A 'Not So Classic' Love Song
by Peachable
Summary: She's musically talented but tries to hide it from everyone. As for academics, she's not so flash and there's nothing she can do to hide it. Her clumsiness also gets her enslaved to the Hyoutei boys' tennis club, which she thinks at first is a curse but then slowly learns that it's a blessing as she's introduced to new experiences and feelings. Atobe/OC/Otori.
1. Prelude

**A/N: This is the prologue! The pairing is still…undecided. O: I'm having some difficulties… Anyway, read please?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing apart from my OC(s). –Sobs –**

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

"Morita Hyo! You have reached the end of my patience! I forbid, I repeat, _forbid_ you to go anywhere near the piano until your grades improve!" an infuriated woman yelled. Piercing cerulean blue eyes glared at her daughter who was standing in front of her.

"But, Moth-" the girl started to retort.

"No buts! We are selling that grand piano." The woman shot back sternly.

"You can't!" the girl protested, tears now forming in her eyes. "You can't…"

"I can and I will. The piano is going and it's final." With a swift movement of her body, the woman turned and marched off. "A mistake, huge mistake right from the beginning." She muttered.

The girl stood there, frozen. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"You can't take away the only thing I'm good at…" she whispered dropping to the ground sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *

"Hyo, won't your mother be angry if she finds out?" Chiharu, Hyo's best friend since childhood asked nervously.

"She won't find out if you don't tell. Needless to say, I won't say a thing." Hyo replied casually.

She stopped pacing around and fixed her chocolate eyes on Hyo. "I promise I won't tell. But, under one condition."

"What condition?" Hyo asked, slightly taken aback.

"Promise me you'll try and get some study done?" Answered Chiharu. Hyo thought for a moment.

"Done deal!" Hyo said, striding over to the grand piano and settling herself on the piano seat. Chiharu smiled.

"Good. You may now play in peace. I better get myself to sprinting practice before I get told off." Chiharu said heading out the door. "See you!" Chiharu said as she left the music room.

Now Hyo was alone in a music room of Hyoutei Gakuen and there was nowhere she would rather be.

* * *

**A/N: Please proceed to read the first chapter for more of an insight to the story! But I suggest you read the second chapter too THEN tell me if you think it's worth continuing or if you find it boring, unoriginal, and dumb. Yeah. O.o. **

**Yuu-chan.**


	2. Movement I : The First Encounter

**A/N: The first few chapters require a lot of patience from the reader, especially if you wish to read about tennis regulars in action, because they focus on the main OC character. It is just so readers will be able to get a etter idea on what it OC is like. The romance won't come until a LONG time to come…so yeah.**

**If you're not really the patient type, then you can start reading from Movement II: Academic Mentor or Movement III: Staying Focused.**

******Please give my story a chance and read one for two (or three, or four!) chapters before you give up on it! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Prince of Tennis characters. It's a sad fact ):**

* * *

**Chapter One: The First Encounter.**

* * *

Hyo had her head buried in her math textbook while she walked up the stairs which lead to the music room.

_What is this, what is this, WHAT IS THIS?_ Hyo screamed inside her head, mentally racking her brains.

"Why don't I get ANY of this?" Hyo complained, looking up from her textbook as she turned a corner then buried her head back into it. Hyo's dark eyes, hidden behind bangs that were much too long, darted from left to right, one line after the other, until her forehead hit something hard.

"Ouch." She murmured and stumbled backwards. Her head shot up and in the process, her rectangular glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. She pushed them back in place and saw that she was facing someone's shoulder.

"Sorry about that." Hyo apologized and walked past the guy. It appeared that there were several other boys with him.

"Mo – " a bespectacled boy began to say before he got cut in by the guy Hyo bumped into.

"That was not a very elegant thing to do, especially of a lady." She heard the him say.

Pretending she didn't hear anything, Hyo continued walking and turned at another corner.

* * *

Atobe brushed the place the girl's head had hit him with a graceful flick of his wrist.

"Yuushi, what were you about the say?" Atobe inquired.

"Mo-moeruze…burning." Yuushi replied, rather difficultly.

"Why are you using Kawamura' from Seigaku's catch phrase, Yuushi-senpai." the silver-haired Otori asked looking puzzled.

"Oh, oh, oh! Maybe he thought that girl that just bumped into Captain Atobe was so hot that she's 'burning'!" the red-headed acrobatic tennis player suggested as he bounced around.

"Mukahi, that's rubbish," Shishido snorted. "You couldn't even see her face behind all that hair and it's not like she had the best figure. I'm sure Yuushi has better taste than that, or else he's geki dasa!"

"TARUNDORU!" Mukahi bellowed.

"That's Sanada's catch phrase. Why're you using Sanada's catch phrase?" Atobe demanded.

"I have no idea. It just came to me and it was a good time to use it." Mukahi replied, shrugging.

"Gekokujou…" Hiyoshi piped up abruptly.

"Stop throwing catch phrases at Ore-Sama!"

"You just 'threw' one at us!" Mukahi said defensively.

"Ore-sama did not! 'Ore-sama' is _not_ a catch phrase! It is merely a form of addressing oneself!"

"Well…well…YUDAN SEZU NI IKOU!" came Mukahi's lame comeback.

"Geki dasa daze!" Shishido laughed.

"Please settle down, my seniors!" Choutarou said desperately trying to keep the peace.

"Gakuto. 30 laps when we get to the tennis courts." The Captain ordered.

"For _what_?" Mukahi cried.

"For making Ore-sama's ear drums burst."

* * *

Hyo decided to stop reading her math textbook, afraid that she might bump into someone again. She shook her head to get the tips of her bangs out of her eyes and adjusted her glasses again.

"I need to get my hair sorted." Hyo muttered to herself as she climbed the last flight of stairs. "And out of all the music rooms available, I just _had_ to choose the one at the very top of the building."

Being every bit un-athletic, Hyo's legs were now feeling so wobbly that if she were to sit down, she would not want to stand up ever again. She finally reached the top floor and as if metal chains had attached themselves onto her legs, she dragged herself to the door of the music room at the end of the corridor.

Before Hyo even fully opened the door, it flew open. Chiharu, Hyo's best friend since childhood was standing there, hands on her hips.

"Where have you been?" She demanded while folding her arms. Her mid-length orange-brown hair tied up in a high ponytail swinging in the process. "I've been waiting for ages and I need to go to sprinting practice!"

"I was held in by the maths teacher. He's given me extra homework, which I have no idea how to even start." Hyo answered with a huge sigh, walking into the music room and seated her self in front of a piano.

"Ah, right." Chiharu replied with a knowing smile and nod.

Hyo being held in by teachers had become a frequent occurrence and frankly, Hyo had no one to blame but herself for always spacing out during class then frantically scribbling musical notes on her stave pad instead of taking lesson notes.

"Anyway, I have to dash, see you after club activities!" Chiharu told Hyo as she walked toward the door.

"Okay. See you later." Hyo replied. When she heard the door click shut, she turned to the piano in front of her. Lifting her wrists and placing her hands on the piano keys with flat knuckles and rounded fingers, she started to play.

A smile of content appeared on her face as the music room filled with the melodious tune of piano playing.

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Flashback-/_

"Hyo darling! Come downstairs for a while!" the woman with cerulean blue eyes called.

"Coming, Mother!" A ten year-old Hyo called back, scurrying down the stairs as fast as her little legs could take her. She reached the lounge and found a shiny grand piano placed before the fireplace. Her eyes widened.

"Do you like it, darling?" her mother asked, smiling.

Hyo rushed over and ran her fingers across the shiny surface.

"It's beautiful." She gushed, "I love it!"

"Great! Your lessons start next Tuesday. I've already got a teacher for you. Your father and I think that being musically able is an essential for a girl, especially for people of our class." Hyo's mother informed. "Please do you best."

"I will, Mother! I promise!" Hyo replied gleefully, her eyes still glued to the object which would soon become her most prized possession. She could picture herself playing this piano everyday.

When her piano lessons started, Hyo's natural talent for music was evident. Going through each grade with monster speed, finishing grade eight piano at the age of 13, just three years after she started learning.

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-End flashback-/_

"Hyo…hello?" Chiharu said, waving her hand in front of Hyo's face.

Hyo had been so entranced in piano playing that she hadn't notice Chiharu was back.

Playing one last chord, Hyo looked up at her friend and asked, "It's been two hours already?"

"Uh, yeah." Chiharu answered, looking a Hyo pointedly.

"Time sure flies when you're having fun…" Hyo said with a sigh, blinking away her bangs which were constantly in her eyes because of their length.

"Having fun? I tried piano for a year and still can't play anything past the difficulty of grade two. I feel no fun in playing an instrument." Chiharu said, snorting. "Though it's kinda fun watching you play, especially when you move your fingers really fast! And you compose the most beautiful pieces to play…"

"Ah! Stop it!" Hyo's face turning bright red.

"Okay, okay. Sorry, I couldn't resist the opportunity." Chiharu said winking at Hyo with her green eyes.

Chiharu settled herself at the only table which was in the middle of the music room while Hyo remained in front of the piano.

"Time to get some homework done! If I don't do some now I'll have to stay up 'til 12 finishing it." Chiharu said with a sour look on her face. "Hyo, you should get some homework done too…"

"Oh come on! I have no piano at home now, meaning I can't play piano at home so there's nothing to distract me from studying anymore." Hyo huffed.

"Yeah, right." Chiharu said sarcastically. "Your music-composing brain is all you need to distract you."

"That's true…but…" Hyo trailed off. Unable to come up with a strong enough argument, she resorted to staring down her friend with the most pleading look she could conjure.

Chiharu stared back at Hyo, her expression hard until finally, she rolled her eyes and gave in.

"Fine. But you better play some relaxing pieces to aid my study!" Chiharu told her, then muttered, "Whatever happened to trying to improve your grades?"

* * *

An hour passed and Chiharu started packing her bag.

"That's my Japanese and math done!" Chiharu said feeling accomplished.

Hyo grabbed her bag from underneath the table and slung it over her shoulders. The girls exchanged a look which both of them understood as 'Let's go' and started on their way home.

* * *

Hyo's violet eyes stared at her reflection in the mirror, a pair of scissors held up against her forehead. She had decided to cut her own bangs and everything was going fine…-until her hand accidentally slipped causing her snip off a chunk of what was her uniform in length bangs.

_'I thought piano players were supposed to have steady hands. Obviously not!' _

Hyo furrowed her eyebrows, grabbed her comb and started combing out her bangs. Loose strands of hair fell into the newspaper-lined sink which was now scattered with copper red strands. She moved on to smoothing out the rest of her hair which fell just below her shoulders.

Taking a step back, and studying the reflection of her face as a whole, she sighed and bit her lip at the sight of her now very lopsided bangs.

Deciding that it was probably not a good idea for her to put scissors near her hair again, she shrugged it off and started cleaning up the mess she'd made when Kasumi, the old housekeeper came into the bathroom.

"I knew you were up to no good." Kasumi teased at the sight of Hyo's hair. "Leave the cleaning to me, Hyo-sama, it's dinner time!" She said as she shooed Hyo out of the bathroom.

"Grandma Kasumi, don't distance our relationship with honorifics!" Hyo reminded Kasumi for the trillionth time ever since she could speak proper sentences. Though Kasumi was the Morita household housekeeper, she had been with Hyo, taking care of her whenever Hyo's mother wasn't around. She might as well have been Hyo's biological grandmother.

"Alright, alright, Hyo-_chan_." Kasumi replied. "Now hurry along! Don't keep your mother waiting!"

Hyo beamed at Kasumi, her cheeks dimpling and scurried off down the stairs.

* * *

Arriving in the dining, her mother, Ecchu Tomona was already seated, reading articles to be submitted for the fashion magazine in which she was the editor of.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mother." Hyo greeted as she sat down opposite her.

Hyo's mother put down her magazine and smiled at Hyo. The smile lasted for two seconds until it was replaced by a look of confusion and amusement.

"Hyo sweetie, you look…different." Commented Hyo's mother.

"Un." nodded Hyo, "A little accident with a pair of scissors."

"Ah." Hyo's mother replied softly, "Let's eat then!"

Picking up their chopsticks and saying '_itadakimasu_' in unison, they began to eat their meal in comfortable silence.

"So Hyo, what have you been doing after school these days now that you're not in the music club?" Hyo's mother suddenly asked.

Hyo froze then resumed chewing, slowly.

_'Oh no!_ _What do I say?'_

"I hang out with Chiharu." She finally managed to say her eyes darted from one end of the room to another. It wasn't exactly a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either. Hyo saw her mother pursing her lips in thought.

_'Busted. Here comes my lifetime ban of anything to do with music!'_

Hyo took another mouthful of rice, eyes still on her mother. Then her mother finally spoke up.

"Hm, watching Chiharu at sprinting practice isn't exactly a very good use of time." Her mother reasoned. "And Hyo, your father wants to get you tutors but I know you'd rather not. So, I'm giving you a choice. One, tutors. Two, you apply for an academic mentor at Hyoutei."

Hyo immediately decided on the latter option, "A mentor!"

"Mentor it is then. I'll call your father to let him know." Hyo's mother replied, then muttered something along the lines of Hyo's father's business trip taking too long.

"I'm finished dinner. Thank you for the meal." Hyo said. "I'm going to head upstairs, better get back to studying."

* * *

In her room, Hyo tried to do her math homework.

"This is _so_ hard," She said aloud to herself, staring blankly at the textbook.

She had managed to do the first 10 questions. Whether the answers were correct or not was a whole different matter.

Hyo closed her eyes and stretched in her chair, yawning and at the same time said, "I'm never going to pass this year."

Still outstretched in her chair with her eyes closed, anyone walking into her room would think she was sleeping in an albeit weird and uncomfortable position. But in reality her mind was as awake and lively as ever, filled with a tune she had just come up with. She started humming, at first slowly and softly then gradually the volume increased as she started getting an overall feel of the tune . After a minute or so, she opened her eyes and jumped up. Grabbing a clean sheet of stave paper she found sticking out from a pile of notebooks on her desk, she started scribbling down the notes she was humming.

When Hyo was done, one page had multiplied into three pages of stave paper all filled up with musical notes. Hyo smiled feeling accomplished.

"Just a few chords I'm unsure of and dynamics to fill in. The rest should be fine…" she mumbled to herself and put the newly composed piece with a pile of her other compositions.

She looked at the clock. 8:22PM, it read. She had used an hours' worth of precious homework time to put the tune in her head to paper. This was her accustomed reaction; Whenever she got the inspiration she just had to write it down.

After three hard hours of struggle, Hyo finally completed her homework for the night. She went through her usual night routines and as she lay in bed, she made a mental note to herself.

_ 'I am definitely applying for a mentor. TOMORROW.'_

* * *

**A/N: Tell me what you think. Please review!**

**-Is being very serious-**

**Yuu-chan.**


	3. Movement II : Academic Mentor

**A/N: YUUSHI APPEARS IN THIS CHAPTER! (For those wanting PoT character action! Haha)**

**Like my A/N for the previous chapter:  
****The first few chapters focus on the main OC a lot. Pairing is still undecided (or is it already decided but I'm just refusing to tell because I want to keep up the suspense?). Yeah, err, I think I'll just get on with the story before someone starts chucking tomatoes at me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters no matter how much I want to. I do, however, own Hyo...and the secretary XD**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Academic Mentor.**

* * *

Walking through the school gates, Hyo could feel people's eyes on her. Some were pointing, some were sniggering.

_'Okay, so maybe my hair does look really bad. After all, even our maids were looking at me in a weird way. Even Grandma Kasumi, head butler Grandpa Honjo and Nishino our chauffer looked at me funny. But what can I do to hide it?'_

Shrugging it off, Hyo headed toward the learning centre situated beside the administration office. She opened the door and walked to the secretary behind the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the secretary said smiling at Hyo warmly.

"Good morning, um, I would like to apply for an academic mentor…" Hyo replied, sounding just a little hesitant.

"Alright, for what subject?" the secretary replied, still smiling.

"All." Hyo answered without a second thought.

Maybe it was because this was Hyoutei and none of it's students have seriously struggled with every single subject before –and she was the first, but Hyo couldn't help but notice the look of shock which appeared momentarily on the secretary's face.

"What year level are you of which division?"

"Third year, senior high school." Hyo replied.

At this point, the secretary did not bother hiding her look of surprise.

Hyo could see the headlines of Hyoutei's school newspaper now; 'First ever under achiever at Hyoutei.'.

Hyoutei was a school established by the prestigious, for the prestigious. Naturally, the academic standard of students were outstanding. Third year senior high students have always been tutors to their underclassmen, and were generally not the ones being tutored!

After a few taps on the keyboard the secretary spoke up.

"I've found one student that can tutor you in six of your subjects. Everything except Home Economics."

"Oh that's fine." Hyo replied, satisfied that she didn't need a different mentor for each subject. That would be too troublesome.

"But he's currently tutoring someone with English." The secretary said, ruining Hyo's sense of satisfaction.

"I can, however," she went on "get another mentor for his current student."

"Oh, yes please! That would be great, then It'll be like a six in one." Hyo said happily.

"Pardon?"

"Nevermind. I'll take him –her –him…? Her?" Hyo struggled as she was having trouble recalling the gender the secretary has addressed the person as.

"Him." She laughed softly. "His name is Oshitari Yuushi. If you come here after school, you'll be able to start tuition today. Mr. Oshitari will be notified."

"Thank you so much!" Hyo said as she smiled at the lady.

"No problem." She replied.

* * *

"Hey, hey, Chiharu!" Hyo said, tugging at Chiharu's sleeve.

"Hm?" she responded and when she saw Hyo's hair, suppressed a laugh.

"Who is Oshitari Yuushi?" Hyo asked.

"You don't know who he is?" Chiharu replied sounding astonished.

She had misinterpreted Hyo's question; or rather Hyo hadn't phrased it right.

"No," Hyo replied shaking her head. "I mean, I know who he is, he's been the genius tennis player of Hyoutei ever since junior high, right?"

It was pretty hard not to know about the regular tennis players of Hyoutei. Some days, they're the only topic of discussion between the girls (and even boys). To have never heard about them was impossible.

"Uh huh." Chiharu nodded.

"Yeah, okay, I _know_ who he is, but I've never seen him before." Hyo explained.

Chiharu looked at her in disbelief.

"Hyo!" she exclaimed, in complete awe. "Where have you been, Pluto? He's in our homeroom! He's in this room, right now. Have you been listening to anyone's names when the roll gets called out?" Chiharu raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"It's only the second week of the first term of the year!" Hyo replied pointedly. "And I do listen to the roll call. Just that I kind of stop listening to it after my name gets called. 'M' comes before 'O' so…you know."

Chiharu still had her eyebrow raised.

"I guess it's a good enough excuse." She said lazily, dropping her eyebrow. "If you still want to know, he's…that one there by the window talking to Asakura." She said nodded in the direction of Oshitari.

"Ooh, blue hair, round glasses, cool-looking one?" Hyo asked.

"That's the one." Chiharu confirmed. "Why do you wanna know anyway?" she asked curiously.

"He's going to be my mentor," replied Hyo.

"Mentor?" Chiharu asked, eyebrow raised once again.

"Either that, or it's tutors. Remember the extremely old and lethargic tutors Father hired to tutor us when we were in elementary school?" Hyo said, cringing at her memory and Chiharu laughed.

It was a good thing students didn't stay in their homeroom for classes, or else Hyo would never get to be in the same homeroom as Chiharu since she did better than Hyo in academics by miles.

The homeroom teacher came and took the roll. When the bell rang, the class was dismissed and all students filed out the door. Hyo had physics on the third floor while Chiharu had Japanese on the ground floor.

"See you at interval!" Hyo called as she headed upstairs.

* * *

"Morita-san! What is the formula used to work out kinetic energy?" Mr. Uemura shot at Hyo.

Taken by surprise, she stood up clumsily.

"Er…kinetic energy is…half mass times velocity…squared?" Hyo answered slowly with extreme uncertainty.

"Correct. You may sit down."

_'Phew.'_

Hyo let out a sigh of relief and sat back in her seat. Clearly she hadn't been listening and the fact that she even answered that question right was a complete fluke. Thinking that she had already been picked on by the teacher and would not be asked another question, she left her mind drift back to the piano piece she had been working on before she was called upon.

"Morita-san!" Mr. Uemura practically yelled in Hyo's ear.

"Yes, sensei!" she yelled almost as loudly, standing up.

"What are the units used for impulse?" he barked.

_'Uh oh. Looks like I was wrong to make assumptions. Ah, what do I do...what's the answer?'_

"Um, the answer is...um..." Hyo stuttered.

Then she heard someone whisper.

"Newton seconds?" she repeated what she had heard.

Mr. Uemura gave her a look of disapproval but told her to sit down since the answer was right.

"Thanks Ayumi, you saved my life." Hyo whispered to the girl seated beside her.

"No prob. Anytime." She whispered back.

For Hyo, physics dragged on and on, so did chemistry. But finally, it was break time.

Hyo packed up her books and stationery and headed to her usual meeting place with Chiharu, the music room.

Hyo spent most of the break playing the piano and talking to Chiharu. Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang, signaling them to head back for class.

Math. Hyo hated math.

* * *

"Morita-san, please answer question 10 of page 124 in the textbook." Hyo's math teacher asked. "Morita-san? Morita-san? MORITA-SAN!"

A piece of chalk was sent flying toward Hyo and hit her smack in the middle of her forehead.

"Morita-san, I called on you three times!" Mr. Ohira said sharply.

Hyo rubbed her forehead to remove the white chalk dust as she snapped back into reality.

"Sorry, sensei." she muttered apologetically.

"Please come and see me after class."

"Yes, sensei." she muttered once again.

Mr. Ohira decided to ask someone else to answer the question since it was obvious Hyo had not been paying attention at all.

Hyo sighed inwardly.

Although music was her biggest strength and one of her best qualities, it was also her biggest shortcoming, the thing that caused the downhill trend in her grades. Sometimes, being too passionate about something isn't always good.

When the bell rang to signal the end of class, the students gathered their belongings and headed off to their next class. All, except Hyo who stayed behind as she was instructed.

"Please pay attention in class, Morita-san. It is vital that you listen or else you'll _fail_! Your parents don't pay these expensive school fees for you to flunk all the tests and examinations. I don't know what your wishes are, but I think I can safely assume that your parents want you to attend university. I have been your teacher long enough to know that you're not one to want to disappoint your parents. Either discuss with them what you would like to do after high school if university isn't what you want. Or else, you better pull your grades up by the end of this semester." Mr. Ohira lectured.

Hyo had stood there silently, biting the inside of her bottom lip.

"Now, off you go to your next class."

"Yes, sensei." Hyo replied softly and headed to her next class which was biology.

* * *

"Morita-san, you're five minutes late! Stay back after class to dust the blackboard." Mr. Sano said as Hyo slipped into the room and tried to get to her desk as quietly as possible.

"Yes, sensei."

_'Thank goodness my grades for biology are still satisfactory enough for Sano-sensei.' _Hyo breathed out of relief. '_All I have to do is dust the blackboard. I don't know if I can survive another lecture like the one Ohira-sensei gave me just then.'_

* * *

As usual, the cafeteria was crowded. Chiharu was already seated when Hyo arrived. She pushed towards Chiharu through the sea of Hyoutei students. Elementary students and junior high students both had separate buildings but once in a while, some junior high scholars would smuggle themselves in. Protecting her lunchbox, Hyo shoved through students.

"You'd think students of Hyoutei to have better etiquette and actually GIVE WAY to their seniors." she grumbled as she reached our usual lunch table.

Chiharu laughed playfully

"Got kept in again?" she asked.

"Yup." Hyo replied, opening her lunchbox.

"What for this time?" Chiharu asked again, she had already started eating and took another bite out of her riceball.

Hyo recounted what had happened in each class and upon finishing, stuffed a piece of sushi in her mouth.

"Does that explain the white chalk dust in your hair?" Chiharu said through a mouthful of rice.

"Are you serious?" Hyo groaned. "I thought I had cleaned if all off."

"I'm afraid you haven't." Chiharu said in a grave tone, mockingly, not helping the situation at all.

"I know, I know…" Hyo nodded knowingly.

Suddenly, a girl screamed.

If looks could kill, she'd be on the floor right now because Chiharu glared daggers at her. She hated being disturbed while eating. Hyo turned her head to the entrance of the cafeteria. Seven guys had walked in.

_Uh oh_. Hyo exchanged a nervous look with Chiharu.

They packed up their lunches, grabbed their bags and ran for the door of the cafeteria. Whenever the tennis regulars arrived in the cafeteria, there would be a stampede of excited, screaming fangirls. Chiharu couldn't stand having her lunchbox being carried away in the flood of girls and Hyo couldn't stand being pushed and shoved.

The field was peaceful and the wind was blowing gently occasionally carrying the odd fallen cherry blossom petal. Hyo collapsed under a tree from the running while Chiharu wasn't puffed at all.

"Glad we got out of there in time!" Chiharu said, relieved. "After what happened last time, there's _no way_ I'd stay in there after they came in. I'd be left with no lunch again!"

Hyo nodded her head vigorously.

"You got that right!" she agreed. "Last time, I had my head pushed down onto the table so hard, I swear that my head didn't return to its original shape until a week later."

They ate the rest of their lunch in peace on the field.

* * *

After two more classes in the afternoon, it was time for Hyo to go and meet her mentor.

"Ah Morita-san, you're here!" the secretary greeted as Hyo walked in. Beside the counter stood Hyo's mentor. Tall, blue-haired, round classes, handsome, popular. Oshitari Yuushi.

"Hey," Hyo greeted back as she approached the counter.

"This is Oshitari-kun, your mentor." The secretary informed her.

"Nice to meet you." Hyo said as she bowed.

He smiled and the young secretary nearly fell off her chair. This left Hyo wondering what had gotten into the secretary.

"Pleasure to meet you, Morita Hyo." He said smoothly, returning a bow. "Shall we get going then?"

"Uh, yeah, of course." Hyo said and they headed out the door.

* * *

The chatter of students filled their ears. They had reached the Hyoutei library for senior high school students.

"Hm, it's rather noisy today." Oshitari commented.

"Yeah…" Hyo agreed. Then she thought of a place that would most certainly be quiet and unoccupied. "Oshitari-san, I know a good place we could go! Follow me."

Without waiting for him to respond Hyo headed out the door.

"Where?" he asked when he caught up with her. "And please, call me Yuushi."

"Okay, Yuushi-san."

"Please, Yuushi-_kun_." He corrected.

Hyo lead him up to the fifth floor of the music building, then into the music room that she occupied frequently.

"Unused, as usual!" Hyo said happily as she presented the music room to Yuushi.

"You do music, right?" he said, one eyebrow raised.

"So, shall we start?" she replied, not answering his question and trying to avoid the topic of music.

"Of course." Yuushi sat himself down on the table in the middle of the room. He took out a notebook which Hyo presumed he used especially for tutoring and started jotting something down in it.

"Let's start with math." He said when he finished, assing Hyo his notebook. She looked at it and saw ten maths equations. "Try your best."

Hyo took out a pen and started working out the equations. On the sixth question, she bit her lip.

Yuushi must've saw that she was stuck because he took the pen away from her and looked through the equations she had done.

"I don't know how to do the last five questions…" Hyo told him sheepishly.

He chuckled, making her feel kind of stupid.

"Don't worry, the last five are questions we are currently doing in accelerated maths. You don't really need to know them until later on." He informed her. "Hyo-san, not bad. You got four questions right. The fifth one you got wrong because you were careless with the change on signs when you moved something to the opposite side of the equal sign."

_'Four questions. That's kind of depressing.' _Hyo thought, scratching her head.

"Take out your textbook and notebook." Yuushi said gesturing to Hyo's bag. She did as she was told and the math tutoring began.

Yuushi asked Hyo what she needed help with then explained how to work out the equations in great detail. Hyo would nod once in a while to show that she was listening.

" –and then you just take the square root of that number and you have the answer!" he said as if it were as easy as 1-2-3 –which for Hyo, it wasn't. "Do you get it now?"

"Mm, yeah…" Hyo said slowly and he laughed.

"eally? You sound kinda unsure." He said. "It's okay if you don't get it. I can explain again."

"No, no, I get it. Really." Hyo said firmly. She really did get how to do it now. After 45 minutes of intense explaining by Yuushi and she wasn't _that_ unintelligent.

They were then interrupted by someone's phone ringing. Hyo took her phone out of her cardigan pocket but it was as silent as a rock.

"Excuse me," Yuushi said as he flipped open his phone. "Yo, Yuushi speaking."

Hyo tuned him out since she didn't want to eavesdrop on his conversation. She started to wonder where Chiharu could be since she didn't come to the music room like she usually did after classes.

_'Ah, it feels awkward just sitting here by myself. I wish I could play the piano right now and check over some compo-'_

"Hyo-san?" He tapped Hyo on the shoulder and she broke out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" Hyo responded.

"I'm sorry, our lesson must end here today. Club activities start in 10 minutes and that was just my captain calling me, unscheduled meeting." He said apologetically.

"Oh, it's okay!" Hyo said waving her hands in front of her. "Thanks for explaining everything. You do a better job than Ohira-sensei!" she said, smiling for the first time during this afternoon with Yuushi-kun.

The awkwardness she was felt was slowly wearing off. Yuushi gave her a peculiar look before he took his bag from the chair and smiled at Hyo. Hyo accompanied Yuushi to the door and when they arrived, he held it open for her.

"Oh, no. I'm going to stay here for a bit." she said taking a step back from the doorway.

"Very well, I shall leave you to it then." He said taking a few steps out then turned around to face Hyo again, "Oh, don't forget what I explained to you today, Hyo-_chan_."

Hyo blinked in confusion. He just changed her honorific. When she recovered from her 'daze', Yuushi was gone.

* * *

**A/N: ****I know the past two chapters have focused a _LOT_ on Hyo…but that's because I want readers to get to know her situation…it's just easier this way…for me. But if you've stuck with me this far, THANK YOU and I promise more Hyoutei regulars in action in upcoming chapters!**

**A lil' note about honorifics. If you're unfamiliar with someone, you use ' –san' regardless of gender. Teachers generally use '****–**kun'/'******–san'** to address students, regardless of gender. If you're familiar with a person who is a boy, you use ' –kun' for female it's still ' –san' or if you're really familiar with someone, ' –chan' . So here, Yuushi told Hyo to address him using '–kun' and Yuushi changed from addressing her as 'Hyo-san' to 'Hyo-chan' and has already used Hyo's first name… O:

**Please read and review! (:**


	4. Movement III : Staying Focused

**A/N: Being the basketball crazy freak I am, I was sitting on the sideline watching people play basketball and then the ball slipped out of this guy's grip and it started flying towards me and then they all chased after the ball. I got hit by the ball and one of the players –this Korean dude crashed into me. Now I know these scenarios _DO_ indeed happen in real life and not just in stories o.o.**

**ON WITH THE STORY! Please review! Give me more feedback like what I need to improve on, what you like/don't like. Onegaishimasu!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis because I am not Konomi Takeshi! :(**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Staying Focused.**

* * *

Hyo sat in the room with a grand piano, about three music stands, some extremely expensive looking vases she wondered why they kept in the music room; they should be in a museum. This was the place she thought of as her sanctuary. She sat in her sanctuary next to Yuushi doing physics.

_'My sanctuary and physics. Physics and my sanctuary. I can't believe that I was sitting in my sanctuary doing physics.'_

"Hyo-chan? Are you listening?" Yuushi's voice broke her thoughts.

"Huh?" Hyo replied blankly. He smiled at her, then let out a small sigh.

"You're aware that there's a mechanics unit test in less than a week, right?" he asked, looking Hyo right in the eyes.

"Yeah…Uemura-sensei told us today." Hyo replied nodding her head like a little girl.

"That's precisely why you need to listen to what I'm saying." He pointed out.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'll stay focused now." she said, slightly embarrassed that she was getting told off by someone her own age, maybe a bit older. "Well, I'll _try _and stay focused."

"Good." He said smiling at her. Then he carried on explaining the topic of motion in a circle. " –so if you swung, for example…a piece of string with a tennis ball attached to the end of it, the forces you would feel…"

_'Hmm, Yuushi-kun must really like physics or something. I wonder what we're eating for dinner tonight…is it going to be a Western meal, or Eastern? Oh! The piano must be feeling lonely right now...no one's playing on it and –WAIT! Hyo, stay FOCUSED! Physics, think physics!'_

"Hyo-chan, what're you always thinking about?" Yuushi suddenly asked.

"Wha –what do you mean?" Hyo asked, puzzled.

"I've had three lessons with you now. Sometime during my explanations you sort of –start looking dazed. May I ask…what exactly, could possibly be more interesting than me?" he said smoothly and confidently.

What he said confused Hyo slightly.

_'What could be more interesting than him? At the moment, everything because he's talking about PHYSICS_!'

"'What could possibly be more interesting than math, chemistry and physics?' is what you should be asking!" Hyo corrected, at which Yuushi laughed

"Let's take a break." He suggested while loosening his tie.

"Okay!" Hyo whooped as she stretched.

"You really don't like physics do you?" he said, leaning back on his chair.

"I don't like it. Not one bit…"

"I'll keep that in mind so I know not to mention physics outside of tutoring." He said with a wink. "So, what are your favorite subjects?"

"I…don't have one." Hyo finally said after thinking a bit.

Yuushi gave her a weird look.

"I mean, I suck at all subjects I'm taking. But I think I like Japanese and English best. You?" Hyo quickly explained.

"Hmm, Japanese and English eh? I think math, chemistry and applied arts would be my favorite." He replied.

"I assume they're your best subjects too?"

"If you want to see it that way." He said casually. "Hyoutei allows students to choose their own subjects, specialized or generalized. Why did you choose your subjects if you don't like them?"

"I –well, let's just say…it's complicated." Hyo said looking away. And she just left it at that.

Sensing that Hyo didn't want to talk about it, Yuushi ended break time.

"I shall ask no more. Let's resume physics shall we?" he said. Not giving Hyo a chance to answer, he sat up properly and started explaining some physics thing.

Hyo groaned inwardly. '_PHYSICS.'_

Time went by slowly, until finally, it was time for club activities, thus concluding their tuition time.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Yuushi said turning back. He took Hyo's cellphone from the table and after punching a few buttons on the keypad, he returned it to her.

"Don't forget to revise physics. If you get stuck, don't hesitate to contact me." With that, he winked and left the room.

"Okay…thanks." Hyo said aloud to the empty room.

* * *

The ball soared through the air to the other side of the net. Gakuto jumped, did a few flips in the air and hit the ball. The Hyoutei boys' tennis club were having practice matches with each other.

"Great timing, Gakuto!" Yuushi called to his doubles partner. One of their opponents managed to hit the ball. It touched the net but made it over to Yuushi and Gakuto's side of the court. Gakuto dived for it, hitting a lob.

"Chance ball!" someone yelled in the sideline. The other opponent jumped.

"What are you doing? Smashes won't work!" his partner yelled. But it was too late, the guy hit the ball hard, smashing it.

Yuushi smirked.

"You're too naïve." He purred, hitting the ball back using _Higuma Otoshi_.

"Game! Oshitari-Mukahi pair wins! 6 games to love!" the umpire announced.

"Too easy!" Gakuto complained.

"I think we're ready for our next game." Yuushi informed the umpire.

"Next pair, get onto the court please!" The umpire called.

Within 15 minutes, Yuushi and Gakuto defeated their opponents.

"Game! Oshitari-Mukahi pair wins! 6 games to love!"

"Yuushi this is getting boring…we need tougher competition!" Gakuto whined to his doubles partner.

"Gakuto, just be patient until we get to play in the district finals." Yuushi replied taking a sip of water.

"Yuushi, Gakuto," came a snobby-sounding voice.

"What is it, Atobe?" Yuushi replied tilting his head in greeting.

"Like always, Hyoutei will not use regular players in the district finals unless it is necessary. Don't count on playing, it won't be needed." Atobe said, full of confidence.

"Somehow, I have a feeling this year will be different." Yuushi replied with the same tone Atobe used.

"Atobe, Atobe! You know how Yuushi is tutoring someone?" Gakuto said, suddenly changing the subject.

"Ore-sama is aware of that, Gakuto, and what has that got to do with Ore-sama?" Atobe said, flicking a strand of hair.

"The person Yuushi is tutoring is the girl who walked into you a few days ago!" Gakuto said matter-of-factly.

"Arn? Ore-sama does not recall…"

Someone sniggered behind Atobe.

"Atobe's getting old, his memory is failing." Shishido said with a smirk.

"Shishido-senpai…that…" Ootori said nervously.

"Ore-sama is not getting old! Gakuto, please enlighten Ore-sama. Ore-sama is bound to remember!" Atobe said, trying to defend himself.

"Atobe, it's impossible. You have girls walking into you everyday claiming it was 'an accident'." Shishido remarked.

"Shishido has a point." Yuushi nodded.

"This conversation is going nowhere, na Kabaji?"

"Ussu."

"Back to practice everyone!" Atobe commanded as he took a seat on the side benches.

* * *

Hyo sent a text message to Chiharu as she walked out the school gate.

**Sorry Chiharu, can't walk home with you today. Wanting to get home early :)**

Hyo looked up from her cellphone screen and amongst the traffic of students heading home, saw two men dressed in black suits standing beside a limousine which looked awfully familiar. Ignoring it, she kept walking. When she reached the limousine, the older of the two men spoke up.

"Hyo-sama, please, your ride awaits." He said as he opened the door to the back seat.

"We're not allowed to use private transport to or from school unless a parent is present. I think you know the rules." Hyo said and kept walking.

"Hyo-sama, we have orders. Please get in the car." The man said again. Hyo stopped.

_'Orders?'_ She thought for a while.

"No." she said firmly them kept walking.

"Then you leave us no choice. Apologies for being rude." The older man nodded at the younger man and they both grabbed Hyo.

"AH!" Hyo screamed at the top of her lungs, kicking her legs. "HELP! KIDNAP!"

But no-one came to help her, the students of Hyoutei just watched her struggle against the two men. Now Hyo was already inside the limo.

_'Where have all the good people in the world gone? Someone, rescue me!'_

* * *

**A/N: This Chapter's short :O Please review! **

**Oh! And this fic used to be called "Sonata in Romantic Style" but…I changed the title because it was dumb. LOL**

**Oh! Please notifly me of my mistakes like spelling etc!**

**Sankyuu ne! :)**


	5. Movement IV : New Girl?

**A/N: Thanks to everyone for the reviews! - Kyahaha! I NOW HAVE PROOF THAT THE PoT CHARACTERS SHOULD BE IN SENIOR HIGH INSTEAD! Well, the 'proof' I found while re-watching PoT: Yamato-buchou, the previous buchou of Seigaku before Tezuka…he has a STUBBLE! Like, beared-y thing…Unshaven thing. So yeah. :P (Okay, it's pathetic proof but...whatever!)**

**On with the fic!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT! I wish I owned it though...but then it wouldn't be called PoT...it would be called A 'Not So Classic' Love Song..**

* * *

**Chapter Four: New Girl?**

* * *

Hyo groaned and slapped a hand on her forehead. She couldn't believe she was overpowered by her butler and chauffeur.

"So, Grandpa Honjo, where exactly are you taking me? This isn't the way home!" Hyo asked suspiciously.

"Orders from Tomona-sama," the butler replied, "to take you to Risako-sama's hair salon."

Hyo relaxed her shoulders which were tense and furrowed her brows.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Hyo asked.

"Ah, Tomona-sama informed me you might say that. I must apologize in advance Hyo-sama, before I repeat what your mother told me to tell you. She said: 'Your bangs are badly cut and your hair is getting too long. As long as you are the daughter of Ecchu Tomona, I will not allow you to walk around sporting hair like that.' I apologize again, Hyo-sama for any offense."

Hyo sighed. She knew her mother would say something like that.

"None taken, Grandpa Honjo. Apology accepted, by the way."

"Many thanks, Hyo-sama." Honjo said. The car stopped, and Honjo got out of the car.

"Hyo-sama, we have arrived." Nishino the chauffeur said as Honjo opened the door for Hyo.

"Whoa! This place has changed!" Hyo exclaimed as she stepped out onto the pavement, staring at the hair salon.

"Hurry along now Hyo-sama. We're already running late." Honjo hurried to open the door for Hyo.

"Welcome to _Sleek._" The workers greeted as Hyo stepped inside.

"Nishino and I will be outside waiting." Honjo said as he bowed.

"Ah! Hyo, sweetheart! You made it, long time no see!" The head hairdresser and good friend of Hyo's mother, Risako greeted on seeing Hyo, smothering her in a big bear hug.

"Hi Aunt Risako." Hyo said, drawing in a big breath of air when Risako let go.

Risako frowned while examining Hyo's hair which hid nearly half of her face.

"Sweetheart, your bangs…my, you sure give me something to work with! Whoever cut it needs to go back to primary school and learn how to use scissors!"

Hyo laughed nervously.

_'Aunt Risako, experienced hairdresser thinks I'm no better at using scissors than a baby.'_

"Take a seat, dear." Risako steered Hyo to a hairdressing unit. She put a piece of cloth around Hyo's neck and another cloth to cover the chair. "I'll be right back."

Hyo took her glasses off and everything immediately became a blur. She peered into the mirror and could only see a rough outline of the upper part of her body.

She took a deep breath as Risako swept in pushing a tray fully equipped with scissors, shaver, hair dryer, spray bottle –all the hairdressing necessities.

"Let's begin!" Risako said cheerfully, picking up a pair of styling scissors.

"Great." Hyo squeaked and closed her eyes.

_Snip_. _Snip_. _Snip_. Copper red hair fell to the ground.

After the cutting, thinning, trimming and washing, Risako put some moisturizer into Hyo's hair.

"I'm done!" Risako exclaimed happily as she stepped back and admired her own work.

Hyo put on her glasses and looked into the mirror. Her jaw dropped.

"Hyo-chan? What's wrong? You don't like it?" Risako asked anxiously.

"_Who_ the heck is _that_?" Hyo said pointing to her reflection in the mirror.

Risako laughed, relieved.

"Silly child! It's you of course!"

"No way…" Hyo murmured, her eyes widening. She looked so very different. For the next few seconds she stood there staring at her reflection, speechless.

"You obviously don't look at yourself in the mirror properly." Risako said, ginning widely. "Accept it honey, you're daughter of Morita Akihiro and Ecchu Tomona. With their genes combined, it's no wonder you got lucky in the gene pool! It's just a shame you've been hiding your lovely eyes under that mop of hair which was once yours!"

Hyo tilted her head. Her hair now reached just above the shoulders and her lopsided bangs had been cleverly cut by Risako so that they looked lopsided in a nice way and for the first time in two years, her bangs no longer covered her eyes.

"Aunt Risako, you're so skilled! I see why Mother tells all her models to come to you! " Hyo exclaimed with a big fat grin, a dimple appearing on the right of her cheek.

"Oh, Hyo-chan, please, you flatter me!" Risako said fanning her face with one hand. "Don't worry about paying darling, it's all done." she added when she saw Hyo take out her wallet.

"Oh." Hyo said, scratching the back of her head. "Thank you very much!" she said as she bowed and walked toward the exit of the salon which opened for her before she even got there.

"Come back whenever you want your hair done!" Risako called after the exiting Hyo.

* * *

"Oh Hyo! Your hair looks so much better! It's Brilliant. Kasumi, remind me to thank Risako." Hyo's mother commented during dinner that night.

"Yes." The old housekeeper replied.

"How are your tuition sessions going with the mentor?" Tomona asked curiously. "If your end of term test results are good we might get you a new piano!"

"It's going…alright, I guess." Hyo replied. Her spirit was raised at the mention of a new piano, although she would want her old piano back, but she knew it was impossible since her mother had sold it. Nevertheless, a piano is a piano and Hyo was determined to study hard and finally have a piano back at home again.

Tomona frowned at her daughter's reply.

"Hyo, this year is a very important year. You need good results this year to get into a good university." Tomona said to her daughter.

"Yes, Mother, I know." Hyo replied. "Oh yeah, when is Father coming back from his business trip?"

"Should be soon. Another two months at the most."

"Two months? But he's been gone for a month already…" Hyo said. She was missing her father a lot.

"Hyo darling, this business trip might be of great help to your father's company. Good things take time, right?"

"Hmm…yeah…" Hyo said slowly as she finished the last of her dinner. "Thank you for the meal."

Hyo's time after dinner was dedicated to revising what Yuushi had taught her in tutoring sessions and the homework her school teachers have set.

"Tuesday it was math. Yesterday was chemistry. Today was physics, and I think Yuushi-kun said something about English tomorrow!"

Hyo smiled as she flipped through her management diary, tomorrow would be Friday and the focus of the session was going to be English. Hyo was pleased because now she can finally make up for her cluelessness in math, chemistry and physics with English. Hyo was sure she would give Yuushi a better time in tutoring her English because, English she wasn't that bad at.

* * *

"Hurry Hyo-chan! Wake up! You're going to be late!" Came the anxious voice of Kasumi the old housekeeper.

"Five more minutes, please…" Hyo mumbled as she buried herself with her blanket.

"Hyo-chan! It's ten past seven already!" Kasumi said prodding at Hyo.

Hyo threw off her blankets and jumped up.

"NO WAY!"

She hurriedly put on her uniform and rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"Hyo-chan! Your sweater is inside-out!"

"Guurhg!" Hyo cried trying to take off her sweater with her toothbrush stuck in her mouth. Kasumi rushed downstairs holding Hyo's schoolbag.

After Hyo finished brushing her teeth and washing her face, she went into her room and started to panic when she couldn't find her bag.

"MY BAG! LOOK FOR MY BAG PLEASE!"

On hearing their young mistress' worried cry, the maids of the Morita household started searching the house.

"HYO-CHAN! I HAVE YOUR BAG DOWNSTAIRS!"

With a huge sigh of relief Hyo raced towards the doorway and down the stairs. When Hyo reached the dining room, Kasumi had put her lunch into her bag and was now putting breakfast into a lunch box.

"Hyo-chan, there's no time for you to sit down and eat. Quick, take your bag and go wait for me beside the Toyota. I'm driving you!"

"Bu – "

"Talk later, Hyo-chan!" Hyo did as she was instructed and headed in the direction of the garage.

* * *

"If any of the teachers spot you, I'm your grandmother." Kasumi instructed when they were seated in the car driving towards Hyoutei Gakuen. Hyo nodded as she had a mouthful of bread in her mouth and couldn't talk.

"Oo yoo fink ee vill mabe id?" Hyo said with her mouth full.

"Manners girl, manners!"

Hyo swallowed. "Do you think we'll make it?" Hyo repeated. "I mean, the traffic is horrendous!"

"We'll get there. You'll be a bit late, that's all." Kasumi replied gruffly as she beeped the car horn.

Whoa, here's one side of Grandma Kasumi I wouldn't wanna face at home, Hyo thought.

"By the way, Grandma Kasumi. It wouldn't make any difference if I tell the teachers you're my grandmother. It's still private transport and not my _parent_." Hyo said, taking a bite out of the rice ball Kasumi had prepared for her.

"Shh, be quiet and eat your breakfast!"

* * *

"Genma."

"Here!"

"Katana"

"Here!"

* * *

"Hyo-chan, you have a toothpaste stain underneath your right collar."

Hyo wrinkled her nose and started scraping at it with her nails.

Kasumi turned a corner.

* * *

"Kuran."

"Yes."

"Kurenai"

"Present!"

* * *

"Nearly there!" Hyo exclaimed full of anticipation as she spotted her school. She looked at the clock beside the speedometer. 7:34AM, it read. "Maybe I can still make it before my name gets called on the roll!"

In her relief, she bounced in her seat, forgetting that she was in a car and bumped her head on the ceiling of the car.

"What th –oh yeah, car." Hyo mumbled as she rubbed the top of her head.

Kasumi shook her head and gave a sigh.

"Careful there." Kasumi said glancing sideways at Hyo. Kasumi did a double take.

"Hyo-chan, you forgot to comb your hair."

"Urghhh"

* * *

"Matsuri."

"Present!"

"Mazuka?"

"Present!"

"Mihashi!"

"Here!"

"Miyahara!"

"Yo!"

"Mizutani?"

"Here!"

"Morita."

Silence.

"Morita?"

…

"Morita Hyo!" The teacher looked around and spotted the empty seat next to Chiharu. "Togawa-san, where is Morita-san?"

"Sorry Sir, I don't know." Chiharu replied looking slightly worried that her best friend wasn't at school yet.

"Nekushi?"

"Present"

"Oshitari" Before Yuushi could answer there was a loud _bang_ from the door and everyone swerved their heads.

"HERE! I'M HERE!" The door flung open and a figure stood there panting. "I'm here. Sorry sensei, I'm late…" the person said between breaths.

The teacher stared, puzzled.

The students stared, equally puzzled.

"I'm sorry, have you got the wrong classroom? Or perhaps someone failed to inform me of a new student?" The teacher said.

"I –New student?" The person at the door said, confused.

"Yes, new student." The teacher nodded.

"What do you mean? Maybe I have the wrong classroom. But, you're my homeroom teacher." The person reasoned.

"Name please?" The teacher asked.

"Morita. Morita Hyo."

Everyone gasped.

"No way."

"That's not her!"

"Maybe the new girl has the same name?"

"But she has the exact same hair color."

"Ah, Morita-san. Please take a seat. You're late as it is. Homeroom is nearly over. Okay everyone, I need to get on with the roll call!"

Hyo walked to her seat beside Chiharu.

"Not a very good start to the day for me, Chiharu." Hyo said to her friend who was looking at her wide-eyed.

"It _IS_ Morita!" someone cried.

"Hyo! I –you –haircut. CUTE!" Chiharu spluttered.

Hyo responded by an embarrassed smile then but her lip.

"You have no idea how long it's been since I;ve actually seen your face!" Chiharu said cheekily.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?"

The bell rang and the students started making their way to their next class.

As Hyo headed downstairs, Yuushi appeared beside her.

"Hey there new girl, need help finding your next class?" he said in a charming voice. Hyo turned to face him.

"You're joking, right? You know it's me, right?" Hyo asked.

"Of course I know it's you Hyo-chan, but you could've at least played along." Yuushi answered pretending to sound hurt.

"O-oh! Sorry…" Hyo replied when she worked out what Yuushi was implying.

Yuushi shook his head and chuckled at Hyo's denseness.

"No worries. There's always next time. Right, Hyo-chan? See you!" Yuushi purred before he vanished, leaving a confused Hyo.

_'What's with the voice?'_ she thought. Shrugging it off, she walked into class.

"Hello? Are you new? But you seem kind of familiar. I'm Tanaka Ayumi." Hyo's physics classmate said.

"Ayumi-san, it's me, Hyo." Hyo replied slapping her forehead. "Does my haircut really make that much of a difference?"

"Oh, well, I actually know what you look like now!" Ayumi laughed.

* * *

"Chiharu!" Hyo called as she rushed over to Chiharu at lunch.

"Yes Hyo?"

"All day, I've been getting people saying, 'Hey, you must be new, I'll show you around,' and similar things of the sort. Were my bangs really that long you couldn't see my face? Was I always like that? Like, ever since the day we first met?" Hyo said in one breath.

"Well…" Chiharu said slowly, cool, calm and collected as usual while Hyo seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. "When I first met you back in the day when we were just wee kids, I could see your face…it was only first year of senior high that you started growing out your bangs. Don't worry, people are just not used to your face yet."

"Thanks, that just makes me feel like my face is a monster's face or something."

Chiharu laughed.

"Nah, you're quite the charmer now." She said winking at Hyo.

Hyo contemplated over the whole 'New Girl' fiasco.

_'I guess I've been too insignificant to be noticed.'_

* * *

"So what are you doing in English at the moment?" Yuushi asked.

"Macbeth." Hyo replied with a glint in her eyes. English was one of her favorite subjects. She wasn't brilliant at it, but at least it doesn't bore the lights out of her.

"Nice. I studied Macbeth last year. What did you do last year?" Yuushi said, he was somewhat impressed that Hyo's English class was studying Shakespeare right at the beginning of the year.

_'Maybe this afternoon will be more relaxing.'_ Yuushi thought as he smiled.

"Last year we did Romeo and Juliet." Hyo replied.

"Oh?" Yuushi said becoming interested. "You were in Ms. Bradfield's English class last year? The class that put on the Romeo and Juliet operetta?"

"Yeah. You went to watch it?" Hyo asked eagerly.

"Indeed I did."

"What did you think of it?"

"Rather brilliant performances by the cast. Were you acting?"

"No, are you kidding? I can't act!" Hyo said grinning stupidly.

"You took part in it though, right? I heard everyone in your class took part."

"Yeah, everyone in our class had to. Ms. Bradfield forced us. She said that back in America, students would fight over the parts!"

"Were you one of the minor characters? But I don't remember seeing you. One of the technicians for lighting? No, that doesn't seem like you. Costume department, right?" Yuushi asked curiously.

Both Yuushi and Hyo were now side-tracked by the topic of the Romeo and Juliet play organized by Miss. Bradfield, one of many English teachers Hyoutei employed from overseas.

"Actually, no. Costume isn't really what I'd be useful in." Hyo said with a laugh. "Although being in the technician group would've been quite interesting!"

"Then what did you do?" Hyo opened her mouth to reply but then decided against what she was going to say.

"That's for me to know and you to find out…some day, maybe!" Hyo said with a smile.

"I'm curious to know, I'll find out." Yuushi said confidently. "Right, lets get on with English, shall we? Tell me Hyo-chan, what are the main themes of Macbeth?"

"Well, first there is 'Appearance versus Reality', then 'Order and Disorder', and…um…"

"The Supernatural." Yuushi offered.

"Yeah that and there was one more…! Um…" Hyo said, scratching her head.

"Nice haircut by the way, the style suits you." Yuushi's compliment came rather suddenly.

Hyo blushed. She wasn't used to receiving compliments from guys other than her father, butler and chauffer.

"Th-thank you, Yuushi-kun." Hyo said trying not to show she was embarrassed. "OH! AMBITION! That's the one. It's the main theme, how could I forget."

Yuushi laughed slightly.

"Looks like you've got English pretty sorted. Do you have any essays you've written in the past I can read?"

"Yeah," Hyo replied digging into her bag and taking out a blue folder exploding with paper and passed them to Yuushi. "Here."

After a while of reading, Yuushi handed back Hyo's essays.

"Hyo-chan, I'm impressed. Not bad at all." Yuushi said sucking in a big breath of air –probably because he didn't expect Hyo to produce such outstanding essays in English. "Why did you say you needed help in English?"

"Well, because my English grades are still not up to my father's expectations." Hyo replied with a sigh.

"But…you've got A's for all your essays."

"He wants all A+'s…I…just can't get an A+ no matter how hard I try. Hence, you tutoring me."

"Well Hyo-chan, by the looks of things, you're going to get an A+ this year. For –" before Yuushi could finish, Gakuto burst in through the door and interrupted him.

Yuushi and Hyo both looked towards the door.

"Yuushi, quick! You're fifteen minutes late already! Atobe said if you don't go straight away, he's gonna make you run laps." Gakuto exclaimed.

"Eh, is that so? See you tomorrow then Hyo-chan. Have a good night." Yuushi said with a wink and turned to Gakuto. "I'm coming Gakuto."

Yuushi grabbed his belongings and walked in the direction of the door.

"See you, Yuushi-kun." Hyo said waving to Yuushi's back.

When Gakuto and Yuushi were in the corridor, Hyo walked over to the door to close it.

"Hey, Yuushi, what happened to tutoring the girl that walked into Atobe? Who was that new girl?" Hyo heard Gakuto's voice coming from the stairs.

"I'm not new to this school. I've been in Hyoutei ever since elementary school." Hyo muttered to herself, slapping her forehead.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter four is finished! Do you guys prefer long chapters or short chapters? Just curious.**

**Well, tell me what you guys think and review! :)**

**Sankyuu!**

**Yuu.**


	6. Movement V : Discovery

**A/N: Thank you for everyone's reviews! Reviews really motivate me to write :) Hmm, many people seem to think the pairing is going to be OshitarixHyo. Kyaha, perhaps I should say it now before you all get your hopes up! The end pairing is, unfortunately not OshitarixHyo**

**For this fic, it's not going to be the simple; "Girl meets guy. Girl and guy fall in love. Girl and Guy live happily-ever-after." Oh no…it's going to be a bit more complicated…so expect this fic to be quite long XD…the eventual pairing won't get together that soon XD. In any case, I hope you guys will keep reading and reviewing my fic! :)**

**Discalimer: PoT belongs to...not me ):**

* * *

**Chapter Five: Discovery.**

* * *

Oshitari Yuushi chucked his towel into the laundry basket after drying his hair and stalked into his bedroom. He had just taken a shower after finishing his homework. Sitting himself in front of his computer, he switched it on and typed in his password.

"Free time at last." He murmured to himself.

A knock came at the door, followed by "Yuushi, don't stay up too late."

"Alright Mom." Yuushi replied.** "**It's only 11:30 anyway."

He tapped his fingers on his table.

He pondered on it for quite some time and couldn't think of anything he could do on the computer and considered turning it off, when suddenly he clicked his fingers. He thought of what Hyo had said about which department she was in, in the Romeo and Juliet operetta.

"_It's for me to know and you to find out…someday, maybe!"_

Yuushi smirked to himself.

_'I will find out, Hyo-chan.'_

Yuushi clicked on the web browser icon on the toolbar at the bottom of his screen. When the window opened, he typed in the URL of the Hyoutei Gakuen website. The page loaded and he clicked the link which lead to the school media club's archives. In the search box, he typed in the keywords '_Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, operetta.'_

After a few seconds of waiting, the search results came up with an article regarding the performance and a cast list.

"Aha, that's what I'm after…" Yuushi said to himself as he directed his cursor over the cast list link and clicked on it. A whole list of names came up.

"Too many names…." Yuushi said as he pushed 'Ctrl+F' and typed in '_Morita Hyo_' and pushed enter. He scrolled up and down and saw that Hyo's name appeared twice.

**_Musical composition:Morita Hyo  
Pianist: Morita Hyo_**

Yuushi raised an eyebrow.

_Morita Hyo…Musical composer and pianist eh…interesting. _He mused._ But I remember when we first started tuition I asked if she did music and she sounded hesitant…_

He then typed in '_Morita Hyo_' in the search box. To his surprise, there were many results. Most of them were articles but there were a few photos. Yuushi scanned the list of article titles.

**_Mozart Reincarnated As a Girl?__  
National Pianist Competition Champion at Fourteen  
__Female Mozart: Morita Hyo__  
Talented Young Musician Discovered at Hyoutei  
Hyoutei Orchestra Claims First Place in National Competition  
The Next Beethoven?_**

Yuushi was in shock. No wonder Hyo's name rung a bell when he was informed by the secretary at the learning center that he was to be an academic mentor for Hyo.

_Who knew the media club's archives could be so useful._

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Flashback-/_

"Oshitari-kun, you will now tutor another student. She's a third year in the senior high division of Hyoutei. Her name is Morita Hyo."

"Morita Hyo? That name sounds familiar."

"It does, doesn't it? I can't quite put my finger on it though. But I've definitely heard it somewhere."

"Mm, yes. I'd better get back to class now. Thank you." Yuushi said to the secretary and gave her one of his trademark smiles. The secretary fainted as Yuushi walked out the door.

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-End flashback-/_

_'Still, Hyo doesn't look like the musical type though…'_

Yuushi clicked on a photo to make sure it was actually Hyo.

Her bangs were long, reaching all the way to her eyes, her eyes and glasses hidden under them. Her hair copper red like always, wearing a cream colored dress and in her hands she held a golden trophy. She was smiling from ear to ear, obviously very happy. Yuushi leaned toward the screen of the computer to see if it was possible to see her eyes and noticed Hyo's dimple.

Yuushi smiled.

_'Her dimple…I remember giving her a peculiar look when I first saw her dimple.'_

Yuushi proceeded to read the article the photograph was attached to.

_**Talented Young Musician Discovered at Hyoutei.**  
"Morita Hyo, born 199X, moved back to Japan from England when she turned eight years old. Coming from a well-off yet unmusical family, she picked up music at the age of 10 with the grand piano given to her by her mother as a birthday present. Her natural talent for music was immediately recognized. In 200X, age 13, Hyo passed Grade 8 with high distinction, and won first prize in the Tokyo Junior Piano Concerto Competition. She won the Tokyo "Young Musician of the Year 20XX", also attaining Tokyo Music Awards (TMA) piano recital with high distinction the same year. In 20XX she was awarded the "Ruby Pianoforte Scholarship" but due to certain reasons, declined the offer. This year she won first place at the 40th Japan National Concerto Competition. Hyo is currently in her second year of senior high at Hyoutei Gakuen. She is the president of the Music club as well as the main pianist for the Hyoutei Orchestra which outshone their competition from different schools all over Japan. Hyo also composes music of her own and it is said that in the upcoming Tokyo Piano Concerto Competition she will play a piece composed by herself._

_23 June 20XX."_

"This article was published just last year. How unexpected," he breathed, "I never would've thought she was this good at music. That explains how she knows which music rooms are unused."

* * *

"I mean, what is the _point_ in having half a day of school on Saturdays? Can't we be like other countries and have Saturdays off and at least be _normal_?" Chiharu complained in homeroom the next morning.

"I'll say…at least it's only for half a day anyway." Hyo said, nodding in agreement.

"Everyone has had half a school day on Saturdays ever since they started school, I would expect you two to be used to it by now. It's not going to change so don't complain" The teacher said upon overhearing them.

"Yes, sensei." The two girls said in unison.

"Hyo, wanna go to the park after school?" Chiharu asked her best friend.

"Yeah, okay. Nothing to do at home anyw –wait, I forgot. I've got tuition with Yuushi-kun...sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. Speaking of which, how's it going?"

"Not bad…Yuushi-kun's explains things using the simplest terms and he's not that wordy. He gave me some notes too which help when I do my homework."

"Wow…maybe I should get a mentor too!"

"Chiharu, you don't need one!"

"Okay students, off to your classes!" The teacher yelled over the ringing of the bell.

"See you, Chiharu. Since I've got tuition, don't wait for me after school." Hyo called to Chiharu as she headed for English.

"Okay!"

* * *

Hyo scratched her head with the back of her pen and stared down at her essay topic on Macbeth.

"Analyze how the writer presented a positive or negative view of humanity and/or society." Hyo read as quietly as she could, under her breath.

She titled the page with her question then paused. She thought for a while then put her pen back on paper and started writing her essay.

An hour later, the bell rang.

"Time is up. Hand in your essays as you leave the room _o_ne_gai_shima_su_." Miss. Thwaites ordered as she tidied up her desk.

A few students sniggered at her accented Japanese.

"No laughing _ku_da_sai_. Your English speaking is just as horrible de_su_."

Hyo put her essay on the pile of essays formed on the desk.

"Bye Miss. See you Monday."

"_Ja_, Hyo-_san_!" The teacher called after her.

* * *

Hyo's next class was Home Economics. She rushed up the stairs and as soon as she stepped into the room, she stepped out again.

"I forgot to bring ingredients for my cake!" Hyo exclaimed standing beside the door.

"Morita-san, come inside. You can get some ingredients off your classmates." The cooking teacher said from inside the classroom.

"Oh. Okay...thanks sensei." Hyo said meekly as walked past the teacher's desk.

"This is the third time this month Morita-san. Forget once more and it's detention." The teacher said sternly.

"Understood."

Hyo spent most of the lesson scooting around asking if she could use certain ingredients. Much to her relief, everyone had plenty of left over ingredients. They were making plain sponge cakes. The teacher supplied the recipe for the basic sponge cake and the students could decide on their own what and how to flavor and decorate the cakes.

At the end of the lesson, the students displayed their creation on their desk. This was Hyoutei's custom.

"Looks very appetizing, Kaima-san." The teacher complimented her favorite student.

The girl beamed with pride.

The teacher kept walking, nodding occasionally at the odd student.

"Not bad Usui-san. I suspect you didn't beat the mixture long enough though. It doesn't look springy enough."

The teacher continued striding from desk to desk then stopped dead in front of Hyo.

"Morita, what is this?"

"A sponge cake, sensei."

"What recipe did you follow?" The teacher asked, looking confused at Hyo's cake.

"The same as everyone else. The sponge cake one."

"Then why is your sponge cake brown? Did you add food coloring? Mixed in some chocolate or cocoa powder perhaps?"

"No sensei. It's um…just a bit…burnt." Hyo answered, looking at the floor.

The teacher snorted.

"A _bit_ burnt? Morita-san, I can't even tell that it was a plain sponge cake in the first place. I'm sorry Morita-san, I'm afraid I have to fail you."

"Fail me? But this wasn't even an assessment!"

"It is now." The teacher replied and with that she walked off to another desk, leaving a confused Hyo standing behind her desk, biting her bottom lip.

"Tough luck huh, Hyo-san?" one of Hyo's classmates sympathized.

* * *

Hyo sat in the empty music room waiting for Yuushi to turn up for tuition. She had already been waiting for 20 minutes and there was still no sign of him.

"Maybe he cancelled today's lesson…" Hyo said to herself as she got up to leave, then she remembered that Yuushi stored his number into her cellphone. "I should ask him."

**Hey Yuushi-kun. This is Morita Hyo. Are we having a tuition session today?**

After typing the message, she sent it and put her phone away and sat back down to wait.

* * *

"Yuushi, you've got a message!" Atobe called to his friend who was in the middle of playing a doubles game with Gakuto against Shishido and Otori.

"Check it for me!" His friend called back whilst hitting the ball.

"Kabaji, hand me his phone." Atobe instructed.

"Ussu."

Atobe took the phone from Kabaji's hand.

"Hey Yuushi-kun. This is Morita Hyo. Are we having a tuition session today?" Atobe read the message aloud. Yuushi received Shishido's serve.

"Ah, I almost forgot about her. Tell her to come here." Yuushi said facing Atobe then turned back to face his opponents.

Atobe texted and sent the message.

* * *

Hyo felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her uniform cardigan. She took it out and read the message.

_Oshitari Yuushi 12:24PM_  
**Ah, I almost forgot about you. Come to the tennis courts.**

"Oh thanks," she said sarcastically as she slung her bag over her right shoulder and headed out the door. "You could've at least worded it in a nicer way, you know." Hyo mumbled, huffing as she descended the stairs and headed for the tennis courts.

Hyo walked past the girls' tennis club and kept walking, heading straight towards the boys' tennis club. Not far from her destination, she saw boys, boys and more boys -and they were all playing tennis.

"Since when were our tennis courts expanded…and where are the courts the regulars use?" Hyo said to herself.

She looked past dozens of tennis courts but none of the guys there were wearing regular jerseys. Finding a sign that said [_A and B tennis courts] _which it was pointing to the left she followed it and finally saw the tennis regulars lounging around on the spectator stands, resting. A certain blue-haired boy waved at her and she knew it was Yuushi.

_'I found it!'_

Feeling triumphant, Hyo started walking towards Yuushi. She felt proud that she found the regulars' tennis courts without asking for directions. So proud, that she didn't notice the wired fencing around the tennis courts.

At the other end of the tennis courts, Yuushi was patiently waiting for his student to approach him, only to see that she had crashed into the fencing. Gakuto, who was beside him burt into laughter but the rest of his team members didn't seem to notice. Yuushi sighed and started to doubt Hyo's ability of playing the piano even though he saw with his own eyes last night the photo of Hyo holding her trophy from winning the Piano Concerto.

Shaking his head, Yuushi decided to be a gentleman and help the girl get into the tennis court.

"You might want to try opening the gate before you try to walk in, Hyo-chan." Yuushi said to the girl who was trying to adjust her glasses to its proper position on the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah…I'll remember that." Hyo said grinning sheepishly, looking a bit embarrassed. Yuushi opened the gate and Hyo entered the courts. Yuushi lead her over to his teammates.

"Everyone, this is Morita Hyo. I student I tutor." Yuushi said and all the regulars turned in their direction.

The regulars greeted Hyo politely.

"Nice to meet everyone." Hyo greeted and bowed, looking from one regular to another.

She surveyed the members and registered each of their defining features.

Hyo's attention turned to the member with silver hair.

"Let me guess…You must be the Captain! Atobe-kun, right?"

Atobe froze, Choutarou was taken aback, Shishido and Gakuto sniggred and Yuushi smirked.

"Uh. I'm Otori Choutarou." Choutarou told Hyo with a friendly smile.

"Oh…whoops." Hyo replied. "It's just that you have silver hair and I once walked past these girls who said they liked Atobe-kun's glossy silver hair or something." She explained.

"Ore-sama is Atobe and Ore-sama's hair is NOT silver. It is purple." Atobe said gracefully flicking his hair.

"Atobe, your hair is gray because you're getting old." Shishido remarked.

Yuushi gave a sigh and cleared his throat. '_Not this conversation again.'_

"I think I should introduce everyone." Yuushi said and started introducing the regulars one by one. "–and last but not least, the person next to Kabaji is Atobe, our Captain."

"Ore-sama believes break time is over. Jirou, you're up against Kabaji." Atobe said, not even acknowledging the fact that he has been introduced to someone and that the certain someone, being polite had bowed to him.

Jirou who wasn't quite awake when Hyo was introduced was now dangling in the air, the scruff of his shirt tightly grasped in Kabaji's hand. Upon being shaken a couple of times by Kabaji, Jirou yawned loudly and awoke.

"UWAAA! A MATCH AGAINST KABA-CHAN!" Jirou exclaimed happily as he landed on his feet when Kabaji dropped him. He pulled his racquet out of his bag and jumped over the spectator stand and ran past Hyo and Yuushi. A few steps later, he backtracked and did a double take at Hyo.

Jirou stood and blinked at Hyo. Hyo's lips twitched nervously, unsure if she should smile or not when suddenly Jirou's lively voice rang out through the tennis courts.

"AH! YOUR HAIR IS LIKE RIKKAIDAI'S MARUI-KUN'S!" Jirou exclaimed as he smiled a big smile at Hyo then proceeded to tennis court A where Kabaji was already waiting.

"Wow, he's energetic." Hyo commented, eyes wide in shock at the volume of Jirou's voice.

"Only when he's awake," Yuushi replied. "And he's sleeping most of the time. Now, I believe we agreed to work on Japanese today, right?" Yuushi asked, leading Hyo up the spectator stands and took a seat.

"Yeah." Hyo said as she sat down beside Yuushi and took her Japanese history textbook out of her bag. "We're doing Japanese history at the moment, and I don't get any of it." Hyo said bluntly.

"That's why I'm here to help…" Yuushi purred as he smiled at Hyo.

* * *

**A/N: HOW CAN HYO WORK WHEN SHE'S SURROUNDED BY HOT TENNIS PLAYERS?**

**Due to my busy week, this chapter was crap and boring. So…SORRY TO ALL MY READERS T.T**

**Yuu.**


	7. Movement VI : Suggestion Impossible

**A/N: I'm glad that you guys still liked the last chapter even though it was poorly written due to my busy school week. Sadly, I can't promise this chapter will be any better...  
**

**ALSO! To those who alerted and/or favorite my fic, THANK YOU GUYS! :D BUT! Please review too! :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Suggestion Impossible.**

* * *

The week passed quickly and it was Saturday again. Hyo walked past the dozen tennis courts occupied by members of the boys' tennis club. She turned left and the A and B tennis courts came into view. Unlike last Saturday, Hyoutei tennis regulars weren't lounging around. Instead, they were all on the courts, playing tennis.

"Hmm…it seems Yuushi-kun and Mukahi-kun are playing against Atobe-kun and Kabaji-kun on court A…" Hyo said recalling the names of the tennis regulars she had learn last Saturday. "And Shishido-kun and Ootori-kun are playing with Jirou-kun and Hiyoshi-kun!" Hyo said, feeling pleased that she could still remember everyone's names. As she approached the tennis courts, she remembered to open the gate _then_ walk in.

"What the…they're playing tennis with two balls?" Hyo said quietly to herself. "But I thought… –okay, I'm just going to stop thinking. It's confusing me."

"Hyo-chan! Take a seat on the spectator stands and –" Yuushi then got cut off.

"Be awed by Ore-sama's prowess!" Atobe said as he used his famous two-step smash, _Rondo to Destruction_, on Gakuto.

_'What_ an _ego_.' Hyo suppressed a snigger.

Jirou spotted Hyo and shouted.

"HYO-CHAN! It's nice to SEE YOU!"

"Hi Jirou-kun!" Hyo called back, waving.

"Jirou, stay focused." Atobe ordered.

"Oh-kay!"

* * *

"Did you enjoy watching us play, Hyo-chan?" Yuushi said as he walked up the steps of the spectator stand. Hyo looked up from the novel she was reading and opened her mouth to reply but Yuushi replied for her. "Evidently not since you weren't watching at all. What book is that?"

"Oh, it's Pride and Prejudice."

"By Jane Austen?"

"That's the one." Hyo replied. "Have you read it before?"

"No, but I've heard of it. How are you liking it?"

"I…don't really like it. It's just 400 pages of girls gossiping about romance and stuff." Hyo said screwing up her nose.

Yuushi looked at her, appalled. The book happened to be one of his favourites.

"Then why're you still reading it?"

Hyo shrugged. "Because I like to read."

Yuushi didn't know what to say so they shared an awkward silence which was soon broken by Choutarou who came walking over.

"Um, Yuushi-senpai, Atobe-senpai wants to talk to you." Choutarou said.

"I'll be right there." Yuushi replied then turned to Hyo. "I'll be back, we'll be working on English today." And he walked off in the direction of Atobe.

Choutarou spotted the book Hyo was holding and a look of horror spread across his face.

"Hyo-senpai, are you _reading_ that book?"

"Yes, I am…why do you ask?" Hyo asked, puzzled.

"I had to read that book last year for English. It was torture!"

"It's a very lethargic book isn't it?" Hyo agreed, laughing.

Choutarou nodded in response.

"Ah being addressed as _senpai_ by you is depressing since you're so much taller than me!" Hyo said while standing up.

She leveled herself on the same step Choutarou was standing on and stood next to him. Hyo moved her hand back and forth between Choutarou and herself, comparing heights.

"Whoa, I'm only up to your chest!"

Choutarou smiled. "Then I will copy Yuushi-senpai and address you as Hyo-chan."

Hyo smiled, "Sure."

"So Yuushi-senpai tutors you English?"

"He tutors me for all subjects apart from Home Economics. But from the look of things, I think he might have to teach me how to bake…We made sponge cakes during Home Ec classes last week. I burnt mine somehow and the teacher couldn't tell what it was." Hyo said flatly as she recalled her incident with the baking teacher.

"You burnt a sponge cake?" Choutarou asked as his eyes widened. He couldn't see how anyone could burn a sponge cake as it was easy to make. "I watched my mother make sponge cakes once, it didn't look that hard…"

"Well, I don't know how I did it. I took it out of the oven and it was scorched brown. It still smelt pretty good though." Hyo noted.

Choutarou couldn't help but laugh. Hyo was the first girl he had met who could hold a proper conversation with him without her blushing furiously and stuttering. Hyo could even look him in the eyes when they conversed.

Hyo noticed that Choutarou wasn't talking so she spoke up again. "Otori-kun?" she said, waving a hand in front of him. "Do you think it's fair the teacher should really fail someone who burnt their sponge cake? I mean, I had a slice of it and it actually tasted pretty good."

Choutarou smiled. "I guess it is pretty unreasonable. I mean, it's not like your sponge cake exploded or anything. But I wouldn't suggest you eat the burnt sponge cake. It's not good to eat burnt stuff. You learnt about it in biology last year, didn't you?"

Hyo froze and cracked a stiff smile.

"I…can't…remember…" Hyo said laughing nervously.

"Never mind, Hyo-chan." Choutarou said as he sweat-dropped.

* * *

"Yuushi, is it really necessary for you to bring her here? Jirou looses his concentration when she comes because he thinks her hair color looks like Marui's." Atobe said sighing.

"But it doesn't. Her hair color is much darker than Marui's. Try explaining that to him." Yuushi stated.

"Ore-sama has tried, but Jirou doesn't seem to listen." Atobe elaborated. "Ore-sama doubts she can get much work done anyway."

"Atobe, she was reading 'Pride and Prejudice' instead of watching us play tennis just then and she doesn't even find the book interesting. She gets distracted, yes, but I don't think it's because of us." Yuushi informed knowingly.

_'I can't figure out what she's always distracted by though_.' Yuushi sighed to himself inwardly.

Atobe flicked away a strand of luscious lavender colored hair.

"By the way Atobe, she's the girl that bumped into you that day we went to the music rooms." Yuushi told Atobe who was now eyeing Hyo and Choutarou from the corner of his eyes.

"When?" Atobe inquired, still looking in the direction of Hyo and Choutarou.

"That day you suddenly decided you wanted to play piano before club activities started." Yuushi explained.

"_She's _the one that dirtied Ore-sama's tennis jacket arn?"

Yuushi raised an eyebrow. He didn't remember Atobe being that fussed about it the day it actually happened, but now, Hyo had apparently 'dirtied' his jacket.

"Err, yes."

"Whatever. Yuushi go back and start tutoring her and tell Choutarou to go back to practice." Atobe ordered.

"Yeah, yeah." Yuushi waved a hand at Atobe as he walked back towards the spectator stands.

"Looks like Choutarou and Hyo are having fun…" Yuushi said, amused when he saw that Hyo was standing on the seats, firmly insisting that she was taller than Choutarou.

"Yo, Choutarou, Atobe wants you to continue with practice. Hyo-chan and I should start tuition now." Yuushi informed Hyo and Choutarou as he approached.

"Oh, of course. Nice talking to you Hyo-chan. Catch you later, Yuushi-senpai." Choutarou said, smiling at Hyo and Yuushi as he left. Yuushi raised a skeptic eyebrow.

"Do I sense something going on…? Did he just address you as 'Hyo-_chan_' when he's your junior?" Yuushi said suspiciously, thinking that something might've happened between Hyo and Choutarou in the time extremely short time he was absent.

Hyo tilted her head and looked up at Yuushi questioningly. "What do you mean by that, Yuushi-kun?"

_'She's so…oblivious.'_ Yuushi thought as he looked down at Hyo's blank face.

_'It's such a straightforward question yet she doesn't know what I'm trying to imply…'_

Yuushi adjusted his glasses.

"Don't worry Hyo-chan." Yuushi told Hyo. By the look of things, nothing was going on.

"I told him that addressing me as 'senpai' made me feel old." Hyo replied, deciding that she should at least answer the question she understood.

"Ahh, I see. Well, let's start on English. How did you do on essay about Macbeth?"

Hyo's face immediately lit up.

"I got an A!" she said happily. "It's what I usually get, I know," Hyo carried on saying before Yuushi could say anything. "But, the teacher made a comment at the end of my essay saying that it was _nearly_ an A+! I'm so happy!" Hyo said gleefully.

"Congratulations, Hyo-chan." Yuushi said smiling. "Did your teacher tell you what you need to improve on to get that A+?"

Hyo's face fell. "Oh! I forgot to ask…"

"No worries. Let me have a read."

When Yuushi finished reading Hyo's essay, he nodded perceptively.

"I see your problem. You've put out a very strong and insightful argument. But one thing you need to be careful about is that although Shakespeare's negative presentation of humanity through the theme of ambition is similar to that of George Orwell's, you have to remember that Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' came _before_ Orwell's 'Animal Farm'. That means you have to state that Orwell's example _reinforced_ Shakespeare's point. It's just a minor phrasing problem and your sensei misinterpreted your sentence."

Hyo drew a long breath.

"Whoa. You're good." Hyo marveled._ 'No wonder you're in the top English class!'_

Yuushi chuckled softly. "You're not too bad yourself Hyo-chan. All in all, the essay is very impressive. You know, I didn't know you could do so well in English."

Hyo frowned in mock annoyance. "I'm good in mus –ahem."

"What was that?" Yuushi was curious now, he was sure she was just about to say that she was good in music too. '_But why did she stop halfway?_ _Why won't she mention anything about music even though she's good at it? She doesn't seem to be in the music club anymore either. Perhaps she was forced into playing the piano?'_

"Nothing." Hyo replied hurriedly. "I like to listen to music." Which was true.

"Hyo-chan, many people like to listen to music."

"Yes, that's very true. You know the opening theme song for the anime '_Lucky Star_'? That song's catchy."

"_Lucky Star…_?"

"Don't worry!"

"I think we should get back to English."

"As you wish, Yuushi-kun."

* * *

That night at the dinner table in the Morita household, Tomona, was patiently waiting for Hyo to show up for dinner and reading '_Entice'_ the fashion magazine she edited.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, Mother!" Hyo said as she hurried into the dining room, and gave her mother a hug from behind. Her mother had been very busy this week and didn't return home for dinner until ten o'clock most evenings so Hyo hadn't seen her in a while.

"Oh my," Tomona jumped with surprise.

"Sorry again! I didn't mean to frighten you!" Hyo said plonking herself in the chair opposite her mother.

"How was school this week? I've hardly talked to you since –forever!" Tomona exaggerated.

"School was…school." She replied to her mother nonchalantly.

"Nothing exciting?" Tomona probed.

"Nothing remotely exciting," Hyo shrugged. "Oh, I nearly got an A+ for my English essay though."

Tomona's eyes twinkled. She was certain that this year would mark a significant change in her daughter's down sloping grades. Tomona has great faith in her daughter. Although she felt bad about taking away Hyo's piano with full knowledge that her daughter adored music, she was sure that with the absence of Hyo's piano, she was bound to concentrate more on her studies. On the other hand, Tomona was truly grateful that her daughter was an understanding and forgiving girl that didn't hold grudges because when Hyo is truly provoked, all hell would break loose.

"You will make that A+ your father has been waiting for this year, Hyo. Do your best." Tomona encouraged, her eyes still twinkling.

Hyo nodded as if she was a little girl that had just been given instructions. "Yes Mother." She said.

There was a brief silence then Hyo asked, "Has work been good?"

"Funny you should phrase the question like that…" Tomona said gripping her chopsticks tighter. "The models for the upcoming photo shoot are being total grouches. They demand to model Louis Vuitton handbags for the photoshoot when they're supposed to be modeling Lacoste, so I tell the fashion department to allow it, but that's not enough! I should just fire them!"

"Why is there a 'fashion department' when the whole magazine is about fashion? Isn't the whole _place_ the fashion department?" Hyo asked pointedly.

Tomona was taken aback. "I have no idea, darling. But as I was saying, DO THEY HAVE ANY IDEA THAT THEY'RE MODELING FOR '_ENTICE_'? IT'S _THE_ MAGAZINE ALL MODELS WANT TO MODEL FOR AND THEY ARE STILL NOT CONTENT!"

Kasumi (the housekeeper) rushed in.

"WHAT'S WRONG?" She exclaimed, her eyes darted fiercely around the dining room.

"Nothing, Grandma Kasumi. Mother's just stressed from work." Hyo informed the old housekeeper matter-of-factly.

"Oh, okay. Good, good." Kasumi said, nodding her head as she departed the room.

"Sorry about that." Tomona apologized to her daughter. "They should be content though, shouldn't they, Hyo?"

Hyo nodded. Tomona continued to tell Hyo about her week at work, chains of famous brand names flowed out of her mouth, "Dior, Elizabeth Arden, Chanel…" –the list went on and on. Hyo wasn't interested of course, but played along anyway, helping her mother get rid of the work stress.

"There's Shishido too." Hyo offered to the list of cosmetic brands.

Tomona laughed. "Oh you do brighten up my day Hyo. I believe you mean _Shiseido_ though."

Hyo smiled as Tomona laughed. She had made her mother laugh which meant the stress was almost gone. Mission accomplished.

"Ah, Hyo-chan, I have a suggestion." Tomona said suddenly, changing the topic.

"Yes?"

"I really think you should join a club. Ever since you had to quit the music club –"

"And whose fault is that?" Hyo said playfully.

"Mine, yes, darling but that's beside the point." Tomona continued. "And I'm being serious this time. Don't get me wrong though, you're still not allowed to rejoin the music club. Maybe you could try…" Tomona fished around her brain for activities Hyo might like. "Maybe you could try…a sports club?" Tomona finally suggested.

Hyo choked on a grain of rice and spluttered. "Wh-what? SPORTS?"

Tomona looked at her daughter. "Manners Hyo. And yes, sports. It'll be a change in activity. You might even like it." Tomona shrugged.

_'Like it?'_ Hyo thought to herself and thought back to the second week of school when she had to climb all six flights of stairs just to reach the music room so she could play piano. She barely made it to the room when she collapsed, out of breath._ 'As if!'_

Hyo cleared her throat. "Mother, I don't think it's a good idea…"

"Why not? It'll be a good experience. According to my knowledge, a few sport clubs will be recruiting the coming week, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"Brilliant!" Tomona's eyes sparkled. "Just try out a few and if you can't get into any of the clubs, don't worry. I'm not going to be too disappointed." She said and winked at her daughter.

Hyo stared at her mother, dumbfounded.

She groaned inwardly.

_'Oh no. This can't be happening!'_

* * *

The spring breeze blew, carrying the warmth of the upcoming summer. Trees rustled as birds flew in and out. It was a sunny and blissful Sunday morning.

Hyo walked the path through the park which was a shortcut to school, but today was Sunday and school, was not on the agenda. Hyo closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the warm wind blowing against her.

"The wind sounds as if it's singing. So peaceful…" she sighed, "peaceful."

Her peacefulness was cut short by a girl running towards her in the distance.

"HYO!" Chiharu yelled a greeting as she approached Hyo, waving. Hyo waved back.

"Morning, Chiharu!" Hyo greeted with a smile. "Where are we meeting the others again?"

A friend of Hyo's from the music club had organized a trip to the movies. Usually, Hyo's Sundays would be spent in front of the piano, exploring and discovering different key combinations to produce chords that would fit well into her compositions. Now that she didn't have a piano anymore, she spent all her Sundays doing schoolwork. When she got invited to watch a movie, she was more than happy to leave her study behind.

"In front of the bus stop just beside the park. They're not here yet though. We're early." Chiharu informed with a wink.

"Great." Hyo replied. She loved being early.

"What was the really important thing you wanted to tell me but didn't want to tell me over the phone?" Chiharu inquired curiously.

"Oh! _THAT!_" Hyo groaned. "Oh, Chiharu…it's _HORRIBLE_!"

"What is it?" Chiharu continued to ask, a worried expression on her face. "Has something happened to your father in France? Is he injured? Or, or, sick? Or –lost?"

"Uh, no. But if it were any of those, it'd be a trillion times more horrible. Anyway, the thing is…MY MOTHER WANTS ME TO JOIN A CLUB! Not just _any_ club, mind you, but….A _SPORTS CLUB_"

Chiharu let out a sigh of relief then laughed. Most people would've thought that Hyo was exaggerating, but Chiharu knew that making Hyo do sport was like trying to make a fish live on land. It just didn't go.

"I'm taking that your mother is serious about you joining a sports club?"

"Serious." Hyo nodded aggressively.

"Hmm," Chiharu said, looking thoughtful. "You know what Hyo?"

"What?"

"Sport clubs are recruiting this coming week, right?"

"Mhmm."

"Maybe you could tryout for the sprinting club?"

"Really?" Hyo said, her face lighting up.

"I don't see why not." Chiharu replied, shrugging. "And seeing as I'm in it, I can look after you."

"Yeah! That's not a bad idea actually…and then we can walk home together like before I started tuition…"

"Exactly. But there's a problem."

"What problem?" Hyo said blankly.

"Signing up is the easy part. The hard part is…actually running the race and getting selected into the sprinting club."

"Running the race…?" Hyo said, the color drained out of her face. "I think I'm going to faint."

* * *

**A/N: ****What did you guys think of this chapter?**

**I'm loosing confidence in my fic T.T Give me some feedback guys...pleeeaaasssseeee? -pleading expression-  
**

**Please review!**

**Yuu.**


	8. Movement VII : Ready, Steady, WHOOPS!

**A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews! :) Kyaah :D**

**BY THE WAY! Did anyone get the joke about "Shishido" and "Shiseido" in the last chapter? Shishido is of course, Shishido Ryou, the guy in the tennis team and Shiseido is a famous Japanese cosmetics brand. I personally found it funny…(Well, I'm the author so, of course.)**

**ANYWAYS –Moving along!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT or Adidas. (Like, literally don't own Adidas…I don't have any sports gear that's Adidas…most of my sports stuff are Nike or Fila LOL.)**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Ready, Steady, WHOOPS! (Tryouts)**

* * *

"I signed up for the sprinting club," Hyo informed Chiharu as she slid into her seat next to Chiharu in the cafeteria.

"Great! Did you sign up for any other clubs?" Chiharu said through a mouthful of food –like always.

"Yeah, I signed up for soccer, volleyball and tennis. Volleyball sounds pretty interesting." Hyo replied, opening her bento box. "Oh yum! Pan-fried gyoza dumplings today!"

"Oh, looks good." Chiharu responded as she looked into Hyo's bento box and stole a dumpling. "Hyo, are you trying out for tennis because Oshitari-san is in it?"

Hyo glanced at Chiharu sideways and realization hit her.

"Oh," she said, agape. "I never thought of that. That's a really good point! Choutarou-kun is in the tennis club too…"

Chiharu sighed pointedly and shook her head.

"Actually, I don't know why I signed up for tennis. It looks kinda, I don't know, lethargic? I mean, you swing the racquet and hit the ball. How fun is that? "

"Hyo, sprinting sounded boring to me at first too. Besides, if tennis wasn't fun, there wouldn't be 200 something boys in the tennis club."

"True…oh, is that sashimi I see?" Hyo said as she peered into Chiharu's bento box and slid her chopsticks past the rim. "I want some!"

* * *

"What _is _that?" Hyo queried her biology teacher.

"This!" The teacher said proudly holding up the thing in his hand, "Is a cow's eyeball!"

"EW YUCK!" Some girls squirmed, immediately stepping away from the teacher. The guys on the other hand all moved in closer.

"Cool, a cow's eye!" Some guys said excitedly.

"We're going to be dissecting a cow's eye today!"

The boys all started pushing toward the front of the classroom.

"Don't push! Let me finish! Now, cow's eyes are in here," the teacher said pointing to a blue bucket beside him. "One eyeball between two people. Scalpels are there, on that bench. Don't forget to put the protective layer on the side benches so you don't get eye juice everywhere. When everything is set up, come to the front of the room and I'll show you what we're supposed to do! OFF YOU GO!" the teacher instructed enthusiastically.

It wasn't the sight that disturbed Hyo the most, but the smell. Oh, it was _horrid_!

The girl Hyo got paired up with told her she didn't want any 'gunk' in her manicured nails –as expected of the average Hyoutei schoolgirl. Needless to say, Hyo had to be the one who collected the eye from the teacher.

"I'm touching an eyeball of a cow." Hyo said flatly to her partner. "Like, actually touching it. It's squishy and slightly slippery…You wanna touch it?"

"NO." The girl said in a cold tone.

"It's actually not that bad…" Hyo insisted.

"As if I would EVER touch _that thing!_" The girl said in a disgusted voice.

"Urgh, _freak_." The girl muttered under her breath when she saw that Hyo was prodding the eyeball with the scalpel.

"Do you want to dissect it, or should I?" Hyo asked.

"You, of course. Pfft."

_'I shouldn't have asked. Really.'_

* * *

"Chiharu!" Hyo called when she spotted Chiharu. She was standing with a bunch of boys, presumably her friends from the sprinting club.

Chiharu had always gotten along well with boys. Hyo used to get along well with them too…until the last year of junior high.

"Excuse me, you're blocking everyone from getting out!" the girl behind Hyo told her impatiently.

Hyo didn't realize that she was standing in the doorway of the girls' changing rooms and there were about 20 other girls behind her, wanting to get through.

"Ah, sorry. sorry!" Hyo said, bowing in apology. She walked over to Chiharu and her friends.

"Hyo! Are you ready?" Chiharu asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Hyo replied nervously.

"Oh, and these are my friends. They're in the boys' sprinting club. Guys, this is Morita Hyo."

"Nice to meet you guys!" Hyo greeted, bowing.

"Nice to meet you too." The four boys greeted back.

"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS. TRYOUTS ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN. IF YOU ARE TRYINGOUT FOR MULTIPLE SPORTS, PLEASE CHECK THAT THE TIMES DO NOT CLASH. THANK YOU." The loud speaker announced.

"Hyo, have you checked yet?"

"Yup." She said nodding. "I have sprinting first, then volleyball, soccer and tennis."

"Great!" Chiharu replied.

"COULD THE FOLLOWING TRIALISTS FOR THE GIRLS' SPRINTING CLUB PLEASE PROCEED TO THE 200 METER TRACKS; ARAKIDA TAMIYO, HIRATA NAMIKA, IZUMI SHOKO, KIMURA MINAMI, AND MORITA HYO."

"That's your queue," Chiharu informed.

Hyo felt like being sick. Her stomach flipped from nerves and she started to tremble.

_'I can't do this!'_

"Do your best, Morita-san!" One of Chiharu's friend encouraged.

"Yeah, make the other girls eat your dust!" Another chimed in.

Hyo could see Chiharu giving them glares, she knew that Hyo was nervous now.

"You'll be fine." She told me soothingly.

Hyo tied her hair up the best she could as it was still short from the haircut. She swept her bangs to the right of her face and clipped it up. Around her, the other four girls she was to compete with were all warming up. She looked at their long well-toned legs then looked down at her own and felt her cheeks grow warm of embarrassment.

_'I am not going to stand a chance_.'

"Okay girls! Your dominant foot on the white line please! I'll fire the gun to signal when you start running. The winner of this round qualifies for the second heat which will be a 400 meter sprint. Understood?"

The five girls stood in their respective lanes, lined up against the white line. They nodded their heads in response.

"On your marks,"

Hyo saw her opponents crouch down into sprinting position but she just stood there.

_'I should've asked Chiharu what to do! Ahhh!'_

"Get set,"

Her opponents crouched lower still but she still didn't know what to do. Hyo snuck a quick look at Chiharu and she pointed to the ground, telling Hyo to crouch down so she copied the girl next to her.

BANG!

The gun was fired and Hyo took off. She started out being the last person but then sped up and overtook two girls. She don't know how she did it, but suddenly she was in second place.

_'Oh my goodness! I can do this! I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS!'_

She sped past the girl in front of her and crossed the finish line.

_'I DID IT!'_

"WINNER OF THE FIRST HEAT IS MORITA HYO."

Chiharu rushed towards her, screaming.

"YOU DID IT! HYO YOU DID IT!"

"I know," Hyo replied breathlessly, "I actually won!"

"Time for your second run, 400 meters is a piece of cake. You're gonna do fine. I think you can actually pull it off and make it in the sprinting club!" Chiharu said excitedly, but Hyo wasn't so sure. This was only 200 meters and she was panting like a dog on a scorching summers' day.

"Don't get your hopes up too high." Hyo replied.

"On your marks, get set," BANG!

Like the 200 meter sprint, Hyo started off in last place. She was still breathless from her first race and things weren't looking too good. She wasn't feeling too good either. She ran past the 300 meter mark but was still in last place. Her throat felt dry and pain seared through the left side of her abdomen and she stopped running. She walked into the crowd and Chiharu immediately came rushing over.

"Hyo, what's wrong?"

Hyo couldn't reply. Her throat was too dry, she was panting too hard and the pain in her abdomen was too much for her to take. Chiharu gave her a water bottle and she drained it's contents in one, big gulp.

"Chiharu. I'm never, ever, _ever_ doing that again." Hyo said through pants.

She wasn't like a dog on a hot day anymore, she was like a fish trying to live on land. Chiharu let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Hyo. You got me worried! I'm so sorry, I should've known you couldn't take it! At least you won your first heat." Chiharu said apologetically.

"It's okay!" Hyo said cheerfully –too cheerfully because the cramp in her abdomen tugged at her. "Ouch."

"Stitch?" Chiharu asked.

"Yeah."

"I know what you mean. I got them all the time when I first started sprinting." Chiharu said empathetically. "Here, I'll get you over to that bench."

Hyo walked to the bench on the sideline of the sprinting field and sat down.

"Chiharu, I'm _so _thankful that I'm not you."

* * *

The cramp in her abdomen subsided and Hyo was now in the volleyball gym of Hyoutei. Everyone who wanted to tryout was put into teams and matches were to be played. The winning teams moved onto the next round.

"Morita, your turn to serve!"

"Okay!" Hyo said as she caught the ball that went flying towards her. She positioned herself on the serving line. Taking in a deep breath, she aimed for the opposite side of the net. Using all the strength she could muster, she hit the ball. To her own surprise, it went over the net.

"Brilliant serve Morita!" One of my teammates called. Hyo wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. It was a complete fluke, she knew it but she was just glad she didn't disappoint her teammates.

"MORITA! WATCH OUT!"

Hyo was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't see the volleyball headed right for her. By the time she broke out of her thoughts, the ball already hit her square in the face, knocking her glasses off. Her teammates crowded around her and someone handed her back her glasses.

"Ouch." Hyo said, rubbing her face. She heard someone from the opposite team snigger.

"Morita, I think you should sit out." The referee told her. She nodded and sat on the side line.

_'Great,'_ she sighed inwardly. '_This is the second time I've had to 'sit out'.'_

* * *

The field was big and spacious. The soccer ball was being kicked, person to person. Hyo's team was doing pretty well, they were in the lead. The sad thing is –Hyo hasn't touched the ball once. For the whole duration of this soccer game, she has been standing at her team's end of the goal. The goalkeeper from the other team looked at her with narrow eyes.

_'What's her problem? I'm just standing here.'_

Hyo wanted to ask her if she had a problem with that but decided against it. She looked like she could beat the lights out of Hyo with one punch.

The ball was being kicked toward Hyo's goal by her teammate. As the teammate approached, the goalkeeper charged forward, leaving Hyo's team's goal unguarded. If she had the ball, it would be a perfect time to score. Everyone was crowded around the ball, fighting to get it. In the big huddle of mess, nobody noticed the ball had rolled out. The ball stopped rolling about 2 meters away from Hyo.

_'Yes! This is my chance to touch the ball and score!'_

She ran forward and when she was in front of the ball, lifted her right leg and swung it.

_'I'm going to score a goal for my team! Brilliant!'_

–Well, she _would've_ scored a goal for her team. But instead of kicking the ball, She stepped on it and slipped over, landing on her backside.

This time, no one had to tell Hyo to 'sit on the sideline' because she pulled herself up from the ground and walked off the field.

How she longed to be in front of the piano rather than wearing white Adidas sports gear, trying out for _SPORTS_.

_'I swear, if I don't die of old age, I'm going to die because a volleyball, or soccer ball, tennis ball, basketball, rugby ball, cricket ball, baseball, softball, SOME SORT OF SPORTS BALL is going to hit me in the head, or stomach and kill me. OR, rather than hitting me, trip me over. Of course I could die from excessive running too…'_

She was thinking a bit too much, but this sports thing hasn't exactly been a smooth journey so far.

* * *

_'Whoa.'_

So many people had signed up to join the tennis club. So many, that the guys and girls couldn't tryout for the tennis club simultaneously. The guys have to tryout first, occupying the guys' _and_ girls' tennis courts, and then it was the girls' turn. Hyo was so happy, that this was the last sports club she was trying out for. She checked the sports draw and found out that she would be playing singles on the boys' court C.

She walked the same route as she usually walked to the tennis courts on a Saturday to have tuition with Yuushi-kun. She walked past courts E and F and into courts C and D.

"Hey! You must be Morita Hyo. I'm Hirashi Mayu, your opponent." A girl with a friendly smile said to her as she sat down on the side bench. Hyo looked up at her then stood up clumsily.

"Nice to meet you, Hirashi-san!" She said, bowing. Hyo saw her tennis bag and asked, "Are you experienced in tennis?"

"I've played for 3 years. I'm new to Hyoutei you see, so I'm not in the tennis club. I hope to get in though." She replied smiling. She seemed friendly and seeing as Hyo didn't have a racquet, she asked if she could borrow one of Mayu's.

"Sure!" she said happily, taking out a spare racquet from her tennis bag. "Seeing as you're inexperienced in tennis, I'll go easy on you for the first few rounds!"

"Thanks, Hirashi-san!"

"Hirashi Mayu and Morita Hyo. Your game is starting on court C!"

They walked over to court C and taking the initiative, Hyo walked to the other side of the net. Mayu and Hyo shook hands and backed away into playing position.

"Now, I'm the captain of the girls' tennis team, Takahashi Chieko, I'll be your umpire. The looser of this game will not proceed to the next round." A slender girl with blue hair just a bit darker than Yuushi's said. Her eyes were sharp, a light green and she was definitely what Hyo's mother would call 'model material'. "One set match! Hirashi to serve!"

Mayu bounced the ball a few times and served. Hyo swung the racquet but missed.

"15 – love!"

Mayu bounced the ball again and Hyo grip on the racquet grew tighter. Hyo swung the racquet but missed the ball again.

"30 – love!"

_'How does Yuushi-kun and Choutarou-kun manage to hit the ball?'_

Hyo swung the racquet and missed –yet again.

"40 – love." Chieko yawned.

Hyo missed the ball.

"One game to love." Chieko announced. "Morita service play."

Needless to say, all of Hyo's serves were cord balls. They hit the net and didn't go over.

"Hirashi's game. Two games to love. Change court!"

The girls changed courts and as Mayu and Hyo walked past each other, Mayu whispered, "Sorry."

Mayu bounced the ball and this time, Hyo gripped the racquet with both hands. The ball was served and Hyo swung the racquet. She felt the impact of the ball upon the racquet.

_'Yes! I hit the ball!'_

But perhaps she used too much strength because it went right over the wired fencing around the tennis court.

Chieko got out of the umpire seat and stood in front of Hyo. She didn't look impressed.

"Morita, go fetch the ball. Hirashi, you win this match. The result is obvious and I don't want to waste my time watching Morita's pathetic play." Chieko remarked harshly and walked off.

"Sorry, Morita-san. Don't take her words to heart." Mayu comforted.

Hyo didn't mind what Chieko said anyway. It was, in a sense, truthful. Hyo handed back Mayu her racquet.

"It's okay. I don't mind what she said. Thanks for lending me your racquet!" Hyo told Mayu and walked out of court C and headed in the direction of the ball she had hit astray.

It appeared that the ball Hyo had hit went into the A and B tennis courts which the regulars used. Not surprisingly, the regulars were all there. They hadn't given up their courts for the tennis trials. Everyone was crowding around Atobe and there seemed to be a big commotion. Curious, Hyo opened the door and approached the regulars.

"WAH! IT JUST RAINED A TENNIS BALL!" Jirou-kun yelled.

_'It rained a tennis ball? That must be the ball I hit!'_

"Um…" Hyo started. Everyone turned away from Atobe and looked at her.

"WAH HYO-CHAN! IT JUST RAINED A TENNIS BALL! IT WAS SO COOL!" Jirou-kun rushed over to Hyo and extended his arms, gesturing to hug her.

"Jirou." Atobe said sharply, "Don't be rude."

"Actually, I –" Hyo started again.

"Hyo-chan." Yuushi and Choutarou said in unison. They looked at each other confused, then tried again. "How nic –" they said together.

Hyo looked from Yuushi to Choutarou, confused. Then Shishido and Gakuto greeted her. Hiyoshi didn't take any notice of her though and Kabaji was, well, doing what he did best –staying silent. From the corner of her eye, Hyo saw a tennis ball with 'H.G.T.C' (Hyoutei girls' tennis club) marked with pink marker next to Atobe.

"Ah!" She said, striding over to Atobe and picking up the ball. "I found it!"

"The ball belongs to you?" Atobe asked in a rather irritated tone.

"Well, no. Um, well…" Hyo said, unsure of what to say. "I was trying out for the girls' tennis club and I was playing a match just then and I hit the ball too hard so it went over the fence and the Captain of the club got annoyed with me and said I was wasting her time and sent me to get the ball I hit." I explained in one breath.

Gakuto sniggered like he always did when he found something amusing. Shishido smirked while Yuushi tried not to laugh. Choutarou looked stunned. Jirou on the other hand grabbed Hyo arms with his hands and started waving them around.

"HYO-CHAN MADE IT RAIN A TENNIS BALL!"

"Jirou, enough!" Atobe commanded, then he looked at Hyo with annoyance in his eyes. "Hyo-san, that ball you just hit landed on Ore-sama's head."

Hyo opened her mouth to apologize but Atobe spoke up again.

"As punishment for hitting Ore-sama's head with a tennis ball _and_ bumping into Ore-sama, yo –"

"When did I bump into you?" Hyo interrupted. "And it's not like I hit you on pur –"

"Music room, math textbook, does that ring any bells, Hyo-san? It also does not matter if you intended to hit Ore-sama on the head or not. It happened. So as punishment for bumping into Ore-sama, hitting Ore-sama in the head _and_ _interrupting Ore-sama_, you will now pick up tennis balls for us like a first year."

Hyo wanted to interrupt him again but she wasn't stupid enough to make the same mistake twice so she listened to him in silence.

"You shall arrive to practice the same time as us regulars and you will leave school grounds when we leave. You are to attend every activity involving the tennis club –regardless of circumstances. The time you shall serve us will be, one month. Ore-sama believes this should be enough punishment." Atobe concluded his speech with a flick of his hair.

_'Okay, that was slightly scary. It was as if he knew this was going to happen so he wrote a speech, all prepared to announce my punishment. Wait…my punishment. WHAT DID I DO? I'M INNOCENT. THEY WERE ALL ACCIDENTS! I'm even getting punished for interrupting him. Who does Atobe-kun think he is? Prince William?'_

Atobe was looking expectantly at Hyo, demanding for a reply. The rest of the regulars were looking at Hyo too, wanting to know what she would say.

"Yes, Ego-sama. _'Punishment'_ accepted. Wait, did I just say that out loud?" Hyo squeaked as soon as she realized what had just come out of my mouth.

_"__What? _What did you just call Ore-sama?" Atobe asked coldly.

Hyo looked at Yuushi, her eyes were pleading, asking him for help.

"Atobe, she accepts the punishment. She should really be getting back to the trials with that tennis ball or Chieko-san will get angry, you know what she's like." Yuushi piped up, coming to Hyo rescue. He titled his head toward the door of the tennis courts.

"Yes, I, er, really should get back." Hyo said backing away slowly from Atobe.

"Don't forget to come to the tennis court after classes from now on to carry out your duties." Atobe reminded her as she backed away even further.

"Uh, yessir." Hyo replied.

She mouthed 'Thanks you.' to Yuushi and jogged out of the A and B tennis courts.

* * *

"WHY? WHY ME?" Hyo cried to Chiharu on my way home. "I wouldn't mind picking up tennis balls for the girls' club, but they're _guys_!"

"Well, the ball hit Atobe-san on the head, not the captain of the girls' club." Chiharu said pointedly.

"I know, but it wasn't my fault. It was an accident. Ego-sama obviously doesn't know that ACCIDENTS HAPPEN." Hyo ranted.

"Ego-sama?" Chiharu asked, confused.

"I was also punished for interrupting him while he was speaking. How egoistic can you get?" Hyo told her irritably.

"Point taken."

"How did I get myself into this mess?" She said, fighting the urge to bang her head on a wall.

* * *

Hyo collapsed on her bed and contemplated over today's series of events.

_'I should seriously consider locking myself in a music room at school and never going out. That way, I won't have anything to worry about. I won't have to play any sports or do any physics, chemistry and math. There certainly won't be sponge cakes for me to burn. In the music room, it's just me, and the piano. Me, and the piano. HEAVEN!'_

_'But sadly, that can't happen because Mother might bulldoze the whole music department of Hyoutei to get me out. So, I'm stuck with schoolwork and stuck with the punishment I don't deserve. I feel so, so stressed. I'm in desperate need of piano playing. I FEEL DEPRIVED.'_

She let out a huge sigh before pulling herself up and walking over to her desk.

_'Time to get some study done.'_

* * *

The next morning, Hyo awoke, her body aching all over.

"I'm never exercising like that ever again." She groaned.

* * *

**A/N: What d'you guys think?  
**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are really motivating you know…**

**Yuu.**


	9. Movement VIII : Slave

**A/N: Yeah, okay, so my last chapter sucked. I'm really sorry! It's just that school is killing me. Slaughtering me. Pounding me. Bashing me! I have four tests this week. #&#&()+-**

**I hope this chapter makes up for my lame chapter seven…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT or Pocari Sweat. I don't own Pepsi either.**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Slave.**

* * *

It was homeroom and Hyo was happily telling Chiharu how she went to an instrument shop and the shopkeeper allowed her to play on the grand piano on display because her piano playing helped attract customers.

"So, the shopkeeper told me I could go in and play anytime I liked. But if I break the piano, it's considered as bought." Hyo concluded cheerily.

"Is that where you've been hiding in all your free time?" Chiharu asked pointedly.

"Kinda." Hyo replied shrugging. "It's not like I've got a lot of free time to spare anyway. On top of school, I have tuition with Yuushi-kun and I have to do homework, _plus_ the awful ball-picking punishment I got stuck with."

When Hyo finished talking, there was a tap at her shoulder. Hyo turned around and found herself facing someone's stomach. Hyo looked up and saw that it was Yuushi.

"Morning, Yuushi-kun."

"Good morning, Hyo-chan." Yuushi greeted back.

Then he bent down so that his face was level with Hyo's and leaned in. To others, it looked like Yuushi was going to kiss her. Hyo edged back, feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable but Yuushi put his hands firmly on her shoulders, and placed his face beside Hyo's ear and much to Hyo's relief, the only thing he did was whisper something to her. When Yuushi's job was done, he walked back to his seat near the back of the room and his fangirls in the classroom immediately bunched up around him.

"Oshitari-sama! What did you tell Morita?" one of them demanded.

Yuushi smirked. "Secret." He purred.

This made all his fangirls erupt in screams.

"Ah, Oshitari-sama, that's not fair!" They chanted, then all turned around and glared at Hyo.

Meanwhile, Hyo's expression spelled one word. Panic.

"Hyo, Oshitari-kun is trying to kill you by making his fangirls jealous." Chiharu told Hyo. "Hyo-chan, are you listening?" Chiharu waved a hand in front of Hyo's face.

"I'm so dead." Hyo whispered.

"That's pretty much what I just told you." Chiharu stated. She paused to think for a while then finally said, "Wait, it's not the fangirls that are gonna kill you. It's whatever Oshitari-kun said to you. What did he say?"

Hyo swallowed. "I forgot to go to morning practice. Ego-sama wants to see me at break. I'm so dead Chiharu! This is the third time I forgot about morning practice!"

"Relax Hyo. He can't do anything to harm you." Chiharu soothed.

"He can make me run laps. That's worse than harming me, that's like _murdering_ me!" Hyo said, "The first time I forgot about morning training, Ego-sama let me off and told me not to forget next time. The second time I forgot again but I somehow got let off again, but this is the third time!" Hyo carried on, nearly hyperventilating.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hyo! Calm!" Chiharu soothed again. "Don't worry. I'll go with you when you visit Atobe-kun okay? If he tries to make you run laps, I'll run them for you."

"Thanks Chiharu." Hyo, who was now calmer, replied. "You're a life saver."

"I try." Chiharu said coolly, wiggling her eyebrows which made Hyo burst out into laughter.

"Morita-san, be quiet!" The homeroom teacher roared.

"Whoops."

* * *

In Hyo's Japanese class, they were doing calligraphy.

"Kawasaki, you're holding the brush in the wrong way. And please, move your arms more swiftly!" The Japanese teacher bustled. "Very good Morita, I think your calligraphy skills make up for that C you got in the Japanese History test!"

"Does that mean the grade I get for my test goes up to a B?" Hyo asked hopefully.

"I never said anything of the sort Morita! It just makes up for it. Back to writing!" The teacher replied and walked away.

Hyo frowned.

_'Mother's not gonna like the C.'_ she thought to herself but carried on writing nonetheless.

* * *

When the bell rang, Hyo walked upstairs to the English floor. While she was walking up the stairs, a girl walked into her. Hyo's foot missed a step and she lost balance. Her immediate reaction was to grab something to keep herself from falling. Her hands flew and she grabbed hold of the handrails. The girl that bumped into Hyo dropped all her books.

"Ah!" The girl gasped. "Sorry!"

When Hyo was steady, she replied, "It's okay! I'm still alive!"

"I'm so sorry! I was in a hurry!" The girl went on to explain. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Hyo replied. Hyo was about to carry on walking up the stairs when she saw the girl's books scattered the stairs. "I'll help you pick them up."

"It's okay…you don't have to…" The girl said slowly.

"It's partly my fault you know." Hyo said matter-of-factly. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

Hyo had been so caught up thinking about how Atobe was going to punish her for forgetting about morning practice that she was paying attention to her surroundings.

"Thank you, senpai." The girl said thankfully as she bent down to pick up her own books.

By the time they finished picking up the girl's books, both of them were late for class.

"Sorry and thanks you again!" The girl called as she waved goodbye to Hyo.

Hyo waved back and headed for class, thinking about how lucky she was that all her books could fit in her bag so she wasn't in danger of dropping them all. Hyo reached the door of her English classroom and from the window, she could see inside the classroom.

"Hmm, something's not right." Hyo muttered to herself silently. "What happened to Miss Evans. Why is a male teacher teaching?" she asked herself. Then she figured that her teacher must be sick and therefore the male teacher was a substitute so she turned the door knob and walked in to her classroom.

"I've got no defenses!" The teacher announced, ignoring Hyo.

Hyo scanned the room for familiar faces but only found one, and that one person was –Yuushi.

_'What the?'_

"I'm naked in front of you like the day I was born!" The teacher announced again, turning towards Hyo. The class laughed.

"S-sorry! Wrong classroom!" Hyo stuttered as she dashed out the classroom, closing the door behind her.

"That was embarrassing." Hyo said to herself sweat-dropping. She fumbled inside for bag for her timetable. "Oh great. I don't have English now, I have chemistry!"

* * *

"Morita, please explain why you're so late."

"I went to the wrong classroom." Hyo replied scratching the back of her head.

"Hmm." The teacher frowned. "Since this is only the first time you've been late to my classes, I'll let you off."

"Thank you!" Hyo said full of gratitude for her dear chemistry teacher. The teacher was a small little thing, just a bit shorter than Hyo and was generally very lenient. Hyo was quite fond of her.

* * *

At break, Hyo met Chiharu in the usual music room.

"Let's go meet with Atobe-kun then!" Chiharu said once Hyo arrived. Hyo let out a small groan, this was the moment she had been dreading, but led the way to the tennis courts anyway, what choice did she have?

When they were nearing the A and B tennis courts, they bumped into Yuushi.

"Ahh, Hyo-chan!" Yuushi greeted when he spotted Hyo. "And hello to you, Chiharu-san." Yuushi added.

"Sup." Chiharu greeted, giving Yuushi a little nod then whispered in Hyo's ear, "Wow, he knows my name. He sure knows how to get on the good side of a girl!"

Hyo turned to Chiharu and gave her a puzzled look, then turned back to Yuushi.

"Hope my English teacher didn't scare you just before." Yuushi said, referring to Hyo's sudden appearance in his English classroom.

"Oh, it was a bit…" Hyo trailed off. "Weird."

"We're studying Death and the Maiden and he was reciting a part from the drama script." Yuushi told Hyo informingly.

"O-oh!" Hyo said, feeling stupid that she left the room so dramatically.

"We better head to the courts now. It's bad to keep the King of Hyoutei waiting." Yuushi puured then started walking towards the A and B tennis courts.

"I can see why he has so many fangirls now. He's such a gentleman and the way he talks with his Kansai accent, man it's so sexy!" Chiharu whispered to Hyo as they walked.

"I don't get it. He sounds normal to me." Hyo whispered back, confused.

"…" Chiharu was lost for words, then she remembered that Hyo was oblivious to anything regarding attractiveness in the opposite gender.

"Nevermind. Look, I see 'Ego-sama' waiting to announce your punishment!" Chiharu whispered teasingly.

Hyo shivered.

_'NO!'_ Hyo screamed mentally as she spotted Atobe talking with Yuushi.

"Hello Hyo-chan!" came Choutarou's friendly voice.

"Hi Choutarou-kun!" Hyo replied happily.

"And, who might this be?" Choutarou, being the friendly type of guy asked Hyo, signaling to Chiharu.

"Oh! She's Chiharu, my worst enemy." Hyo replied grinning. A puzzled expression spread across Choutarou's face.

"Worst enemy?"

"She means best friend." Chiharu explained smiling at Choutarou. "Hello Choutarou-kun!"

"Oh. Hello Chiharu-senpai!" Choutarou said as Shishido came walking towards them.

"Oi Choutarou, wanna play a match?" Shishido grunted. "Sup Hyo-chan, and Hyo-chan's friend."

"Hi." Hyo greeted Shishido.

"Sup." Chiharu greeted back.

"How unlady-like." Commented a snobby voice which came from behind Hyo and Hyo immediately knew who it was. Chiharu turned around and glared at Atobe.

Completely ignoring Chiharu, Atobe tapped Hyo's shoulder with a delicate finger. "Hyo-san, Ore-sama believes you missed morning practice, _again_."

Hyo prepared herself for the worst and turned around. "Yeah...sorry."

"It was part of the punishment that you are to attend _every_ event the tennis club is involved in, is it not?" Atobe said.

"Yes." Hyo replied, nodding.

"Good. Then Ore-sama has made Ore-sama understood." Atobe said and walked off leaving Hyo completely lost and looking blank.

"What was the last sentence he said?" Hyo asked.

"The last sentence would mean, 'then I have made myself understood'." Choutarou translated.

"Okay." Hyo said slowly. "But…what does he mean by that?" Hyo asked again, then looked at Chiharu who shrugged.

"I don't know." Choutarou answered.

"Choutarou, lets go and play that match eh?" Shishido said impatiently.

"Ah! Alright. I'll see you, Hyo-chan, Chiharu-senpai!" Choutarou said as he left with Shishido.

"What does Ego-sama mean by what he said, Chiharu?" Hyo asked again but Chiharu who was generally a fast reactor, still had no idea. At this point, Yuushi came jogging to the rescue.

"Yuushi-kun! What does Ego –I mean Atobe-kun mean by… 'Ore-sama has made Ore-sama understood'?" Hyo demanded.

Yuushi came to a halt and looked at Hyo blankly. "Hyo-chan, you need to tell me the whole conversation before I can understand what that phrase means." He purred with a smile.

Hyo told him the whole conversation between Atobe and herself, Yuushi smiled in understanding.

"I think that's pretty self explanatory." Yuushi said at last.

"Yuushi-kun, we're not all as smart as you." Hyo retorted.

"Alright, alright." Yuushi said as he adjusted his glasses which in turn made Hyo adjust her glasses. "Okay, to take part in every event the tennis club is involved in is part of the initial punishment, right?"

"Yeah." Hyo answered.

"Well, what Atobe meant by 'I have made myself understood' was just emphasizing the fact, but it also means that you have somewhat become an official member of our tennis team –as a ball picker, for a month." Yuushi elaborated.

"I still don't get it." Hyo replied.

"Basically," Yuushi said, he felt like he was in a tuition session with Hyo, "Wherever the tennis regulars are at, you have to be present to attend to our needs."

Hyo blinked and drew in a deep breath when she finally understood. "To put it simply, everything you said is just a euphemism for 'Atobe-kun has made me slave to the tennis team for a month' am I correct?" Hyo asked flatly.

"See, you're smarter than you think!" Yuushi said. "Now you better pick up some balls and look like you're working before Atobe extends your service time." Yuushi said as he winked and continued jogging.

Hyo turned to Chiharu.

"Seriously Chiharu, what did I do to deserve this?" Hyo groaned.

"I have no idea Hyo. But look on the bright side. You get to spend time with some pretty good-looking guys for a month." Chiharu said patting Hyo's back.

* * *

"This is so unfair! Why does that girl get to sit with the tennis regulars for lunch?"

"And she's not even that pretty!"

"I should be the one sitting there!"

"No, _I_ should be the one sitting there!"

All the fangirls of the tennis regulars were glaring at Hyo and voicing out their disapproval of Hyo sitting with the regulars.

"I don't think I should sit here." Hyo said firmly.

"You are obliged to sit here. You have duties to fulfill." Atobe replied, flicking a strand of hair.

"I'm gonna go buy a drink." Choutarou said, sensing the uneasiness of the atmosphere. He motioned to stand up when Atobe spoke up again.

"Choutarou, tell Hyo-san which drink you would like and give her the money. She can buy it for you." Atobe said. Hyo stared hard at Atobe. "It is her duty after all." Atobe added, not taking any notice of the look he was getting from Hyo.

"Um…" Choutarou said hesitantly.

"Give me the money, Choutarou-kun." Hyo said standing up as she gave a small sigh.

"Hey, look! She's standing up. She's finally leaving the table!" a girl yelled.

"Probably got kicked out by Atobe-sama!" another girl said happily.

"Argh! Otori-sama is giving her something!"

"She's walking towards us!"

"Would you guys mind _not_ announcing everything I do? It just gets a little annoying." Hyo said trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice, then proceeded to the vending machines.

"How dare she!"

Hyo put the coins in the vending machine and pushed the button to buy Pocari Sweat, the drink Choutarou wanted then made her way back to the regulars' table.

"Here you go, Choutarou-kun." Hyo said handing Choutarou the drink, then sat down in her appointed seat opposite Atobe at the end of the rectangular table.

"Hyo-chan, do you mind making another visit to the vending machine? I want a drink to asked.

"Sure, why not." Hyo replied and stood up, extending her hand to receive the money. Gakuto gave her some coins and Hyo turned to go to the vending machine.

About three steps from the table, Hyo got called back.

"Oi, Hyo-chan! Come back! I want a drink too!" Shishido called.

"ME TOO!" Jirou shouted, he had just woken up.

Hyo pivoted on her right foot and turned 180 degrees to face the regulars then walked back to the table. She collected money from Shishido and Jirou and was about to leave when she said, "Why don't I just get everyone's drinks while I'm over there? It's more efficient this way." Hyo had learnt the last line from her mother's personal assistant at the publishing company.

"Sounds good." Yuushi said. "Just get me dihydro-monoxide."

"Okay," Hyo replied, taking a mental note. "What about you, Hiyoshi-kun?"

"…Just spring water will be fine…"

"Okay, would Kabaji-kun like anything to drink?"

"…"

"No reply from Kabaji-kun. I'll take that as a no. What about you, Atobe-kun?" Hyo asked.

"Ore-sama is fine for the time being." Atobe replied elegantly.

"Okay. That's everyone." Hyo said as she collected money from everyone and made her way to the vending machine.

"Hmm," Hyo said as she slotted in all of the money. "Two Pocari Sweat, a Pepsi for Jirou-kun. Yuushi-kun wanted dihydro-monoxide…" Hyo ran her fingers across the window of the vending machine, looking for the 'Dihydro-monoxide' label. "It's not here! I'll get Hiyoshi-kun's spring water first." Four drinks were now waiting for Hyo to pick them up in the dispenser but Hyo was still looking for Yuushi's drink.

"Gahh! Where is it!" Hyo said, scratching her head. "Dihydro-monoxide, Dihydro-monoxide, Dihydro-monoxide, Dihydro…dihydro….OH! Dihydro-monoxide! Of course!" Hyo said triumphantly when she finally cracked the code and pushed the button to buy another bottle of spring water.

"Dihydro-monoxide is water! Two hydrogen and one oxygen! I think tuition with Yuushi-kun is finally paying off."

Hyo made her way happily back to the table, carrying five bottles of beverages in her arms. When she got to the table, her happy mood was immediately destroyed by Atobe.

"Hyo-chan, Ore-sama has decided that Ore-sama would like some water."

"How nice of you to change your mind so soon, Atobe-kun." Hyo said through gritted teeth as she unwillingly extended her hand to receive the money Atobe held out to her.

Throughout the whole lunch time, Hyo couldn't eat her lunch in peace because of the never-ending needs of the tennis regulars she had to attend to. Either Jirou's fried rice wasn't salty enough so Hyo had to fetch some salt, or Atobe kept using up all the serviettes and Hyo had to go across the cafeteria to get some more.

"Hyo-chan, could you get the salt shaker again? Ore-sama's scrambled eggs need some more flavor." Atobe said distastefully.

"Yes," Hyo said, standing up. "Your majesty." Hyo added under her breath.

_'Who eats scrambled eggs for lunch anyway?'_

* * *

"Hyo-chan! Please pass me a few balls!" Choutarou requested.

"Okay! Hold on a sec!" Hyo said as she finished picking up some missed balls on court A then rushed to court B where Choutarou was playing against Shishido (like always) and passed him two balls.

"Thanks!"

"Hyo-chan! Ore-sama is in need of replacement tennis balls!"

Hyo rolled her eyes and reluctantly walked to the tennis ball basket and got two balls and walked back to court A and thrust the balls at Atobe.

"Here you go." Hyo said inattentively, then stalked back to her position beside the tennis balls basket. Hyo stood there feeling bored then started humming absent-mindedly to herself. After ten seconds of humming, she suddenly stopped then ran to her bag which she put on the spectator stands. She opened the zip of her bag hastily and rummaged through the contents.

"Stave paper, stave paper, stave paper!" She chanted to herself, when she found her stave pad, she got out her pencil case and rummaged through that."Pencil, pencil pencil. AHA!"

Hyo plopped herself on the spectator seats and started putting the tune she was humming to paper.

Ten minutes later, she was finished. Putting the stave paper and pencil where they belonged, she then looked in the direction of the tennis regulars who were practicing. Tennis balls were scattered everywhere and the contents of the tennis ball basket was nearly empty.

Hyo's jaw dropped. "No way! Why are guys so messy?"

"Have fun picking up the balls, Hyo-chan." Shishido said as he walked past Hyo who was crouching down, ball picking.

"Yeah, I will." Hyo replied sarcastically, not looking up.

All the tennis regulars put their racquets in their tennis bag and headed off to the showers, but one person stayed behind.

"I'll help you, Hyo-chan." Choutarou offered.

"Oh, no it's okay, I can do it." Hyo said looking up at Choutarou in surprise. Choutarou crouched down beside Hyo and started picking up tennis balls. "Choutarou-kun!"

"Yes, Hyo-chan?"

"If Ego-sama sees you helping me, he's going to extend my slavery time." Hyo reasoned to Choutarou. "You don't want that to happen now, _do you_?" Hyo asked dangerously which made Choutarou back away.

"I-I guess not." Choutarou said scratching his head, a pink tinge crept onto his face. "S-sorry, Hyo-chan!"

"Nothing to be sorry about! Now off you go to the showers!" Hyo urged.

"Alright!" Choutarou said as he stood up and grabbed his tennis bag and went to the showers.

* * *

Hyo had picked up all the scattered tennis balls and stashed away the basketful of tennis balls in the clubroom and was now waiting for the regulars to finish showering outside the clubroom.

"Ah, it feels so good after a shower. So refreshing!" A voice drifted from the building beside the clubroom.

"Yeah."

One by one the regulars dribbled out of the showers. Their hair was still wet, school shirt stuck to their still wet bodies, and they all looked absolutely gorgeous.

"You guys are going to catch colds if you don't dry your hair." Hyo said pointedly after glancing once in ther direction.

The regulars exchanged looks. _Never_ had a girl survived seeing them after a shower without fainting.

"Ore-sama does not catch colds." Atobe stated coolly.

"Yeah, we're used to it." Gakuto replied.

"Okay, if you guys insist. So, can I go home now? It's six o'clock…" Hyo asked.

"Of course." Atobe said. "Might Ore-sama just add, you did a good job today. But next time, don't run off and do your homework like that, you need to deliver balls to us."

"It wasn't homework," Hyo said slowly, then reacted and said hastily, "Yeah, yeah, it was homework!"

"What does that mean, Hyo-chan?" Yuushi purred and Choutarou glanced sideways at Yuushi.

"Nothing!" Hyo said quickly. "I better get home now. See you guys tomorrow!" and she ran off before anyone could say goodbye.

* * *

**A/N: Hmm, Hyo seems like she's hiding something…or is she? On another note, I sense some chemistry...can youuu?  
**

**Lol. Yeah, you guys were probably like, "OMG SHE HAS A SHORT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BEGINNING OF HER FIC THIS TIME!" but now you've finished reading this chapter and looking at this author's note and you're like, "NO WONDER IT WAS SO SHORT! THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE IS FREAKING LONG!"…ANYWAYS, moving on ;**

**I always pick my characters' names with care :) I was wondering if anyone was interested in the Kanji for the names of my characters? I'll put them here in case anyone wants to know! :D (First name first.)  
**

**Morita Hyo - ****森田ヒョウ ****(Hyo's name is in Katakana! It has a small significance though, other than sounding nice XD It'll come up later on in the story.)**

**Morita Akihiro - ****森田彰浩 ****(Hyo's dad! He comes in later in the story too.)**

**Ecchu Tomona - ****越中智奈 ****(Hyo's mum! Yeah, you guys know her already XD)**

**Togawa Chiharu - ****戸川千晴 ****(Chiharu! Hyo's best friend. Her name sounds pretty.) **

**Anyways, I hope this chapter is somewhat okay-ish and an improvement from my last chapter? Even if you guys don't like my chapters, I'd still like reviews….**

**I'm uploading this chapter earlier than usual because I leave for Japan on the 5****th**** of July. That's next Saturday! So there will be one more chapter uploaded sometime next week and then no more updates for three weeks until I get back from Japan. So yeah…REVIEW PLEASE!**

**OH! Can anyone guess the eventual pairing for this fic? XD Kyaha! (I should really stop talking...typing...) (I wish would let us use the strikeout font...) (Yeah, I'm never gonna shut up.) (-Finally shuts up-)**

**Yuu.**


	10. Movement IX : Feelings Revealed

**A/N: YAY! Last week of term 2 for the year! I desperately need a holiday. Away from school…Jappppaaaaannnnnnnn! I WANT MY HOLIDAY! But I'll miss writing my fanfic of course :D.**

**This will be my last chapter for a few weeks. I'll start writing again as soon as I get back from Japan, promise! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hyoutei and their sexy tennis regulars. That doesn't mean I own Kabaji, Konomi Takeshi owns ALL OF THEM. I own Hyo-chan though!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Feelings Revealed.**

* * *

"Hmm, Hyo-chan, your calligraphy skills aren't bad." Yuushi commented as he examined Hyo's calligraphy. The subject of their tuition that day was Japanese.

"Thanks," Hyo replied. "I won an award for calligraphy in junior high."

"Really?" Yuushi mused. He hadn't seen that when he searched Hyo's name in the Hyoutei database.

"No, just joking. I wish!" Hyo replied grinning. "My Father used to teach me when I was little."

"Ahh, so you had a good teacher." Yuushi purred.

"Mhm." Hyo replied loosely.

"Well, this is today's tuition done." Yuushi said. "Off to tennis practice now."

The two packed their bags and departed the music room. Before the door of the music room closed, Hyo looked back and glanced at the grand piano sitting inside. She hadn't touched a piano for days and her fingers were itching to dance across its keys.

"Hyo-chan?" Yuushi questioned.

Hyo tore her eyes away from the piano, smiled at Yuushi and walked away with Yuushi following closely behind.

* * *

"HYO-CHAN!" Jirou greeted Hyo with his usual hyper self when he was awake.

"Jirou-kun. Had a nice nap?" Hyo asked as she approached, chucking her bag down onto the bags of the tennis regulars.

"YES!" Jirou replied happily. "I GET TO PLAY AGAINST CHOUTAROU TODAY!"

"That's right." Said a voice from behind Hyo. Hyo turned around and tilted her head up.

"Hey there, Choutarou-kun!" Hyo greeted bouncily.

"You seem to be in a good mood today, Hyo-chan." Choutarou replied with a smile.

"It's been a good day today. Tuition with Yuushi-kun was especially good!" Hyo replied.

"O-oh. Did…something happen?" Choutarou asked trying not to sound too curious.

"Let's just say…calligraphy is one of my strengths!" Hyo said with a laugh.

"How nice to know." Came another voice behind Hyo.

Hyo instantly recognized the voice. It had been a week since she was made slave of Hyoutei's tennis team. That meant Hyo had passed a week picking up balls in morning, break, lunch _and_ afterschool practices. She also had to eat lunch with the regulars. One or two days in the week, Atobe had allowed Hyo to bring Chiharu with her to the lunch table. Since Hyo had been spending so much time with the regulars and had been called on countless times by Atobe, it was now impossible for her not to recognize his voice. Seriously.

"Good afternoon, Atobe-senpai." Choutarou greeted.

"Atobe-kun." Hyo greeted with a nod of her head.

"Ore-sama thinks Choutarou and Jirou's game should be starting now. As for you, Hyo-chan, there are balls for you to fetch." Atobe instructed.

"Yes." Hyo answered with a sigh, walking to her usual spot beside the basket of tennis balls.

_'You could at least use another word rather than 'fetch' you know. It makes me sound like a dog.'_

Standing beside the basket of tennis balls, Hyo got bored and started humming to herself and looking around the vicinity aimlessly.

"One set match! Choutarou to serve!" Gakuto, who was the umpire of the game between Choutarou and Jirou called lazily.

Choutarou bounced the ball a few times, then chucked it in the air straight above him.

"Ikkyuu…nyuu….kon!" With a powerful swing of his arm and a gentle flick of this wrist, Choutarou hit the ball with amazing strength, making the ball travel toward Jirou at 192 kilometers per hour. Jirou swung his racquet but missed the ball.

"15-love!" Gakuto announced.

"CHOUTAROU, AMAZING!" Jirou revered in wonder and enthusiasm. Choutarou scratched the back of his head bashfully.

"Thanks Jirou-senpai." Choutarou said.

Hyo, who was watching from a distance dropped her jaw and adjusted her glasses.

"That, was, fast!" She breathed. "I bet that was more than 216 semiquavers per minute!" Hyo said, trying to judge the speed of Choutarou's serve using the timing method in music.

Choutarou took another tennis ball from his pocket, bounced it a few times and chucked it in the air exactly the way he did it the previous time. Jirou grasped his racquet with two hands and lowered himself a bit, readying himself for the ball.

"Ikkyuu…nyuu…kon!" Choutarou successfully hit the ball with the same speed power as he did before.

"30-love." Gakuto announced.

"AMAZINGGGG!" Jirou exclaimed again.

Hyo's jaw dropped again and all she could do was stare.

_'How can anyone hit a ball so fast?'_

"Hyo-chan, two more balls please!" Choutarou called to Hyo and held up two fingers for her to see. Hyo stayed stationary and just stared.

"I think Hyo-chan's truly amazed by Choutarou's skills." Shishido remarked when he saw Hyo's expression.

"She looks like a fish." Gakuto snorted.

Atobe cleared his throat. "Hyo-san. Balls please!" He ordered, in an abnormally loud volume.

Hyo snapped out of her amazement and grabbed two balls from the basket beside her and walked over to court A where all the regulars were watching Choutarou and Jirou's match. Hyo handed the ball over to Choutarou.

"Even though I don't know anything about tennis, your serves are, absolutely, amazing…" Hyo told Choutarou, her eyes wide with admiration.

Choutarou took the tennis balls from Hyo and on hearing Hyo's compliment, a tinge of pink crept across his cheeks. "Thanks Hyo-chan. But there are lots of people who –"

"Hyo-san, do not disturb Choutarou. He is in the middle of a game." Atobe informed Hyo rather irritably. Hyo looked at Atobe.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Hyo muttered under her breath. Choutarou heard and gave a little laugh.

"Ore-sama begs your pardon, arn!" Atobe demanded.

"Nothing!" Hyo said quickly, then returned to her station next to the basket of tennis balls. 'That was close. Good thing Choutarou-kun didn't sell me out or else Ego-sama would've made me run laps or something.' Hyo thought to herself.

Choutarou won his service game and it was now Jirou's turn to serve. Jirou's serve was no where near as fast as Choutarou's so Choutarou was able to hit back the serve easily. Jirou and Choutarou rallied for a few minutes until Jirou scored a point.

"15-love!" Gakuto called.

Jirou's service round went on.

"So, are you starting to get the gist of tennis?" Yuushi asked Hyo, suddenly appearing beside her.

Hyo's head spun around to see who it was. She let out a sigh of relief. "Phew, it's only you."

"What do you mean by that?" Yuushi said, pretending to sound hurt.

"You could've been a stalker sneaking up on people?" Hyo replied shrugging.

Yuushi choked back a laugh. "Um, yes, I'm sure that's very…"

"Game Jirou! One game all!" Gakuto announced.

"Oi, Choutarou! Keep your eye on the ball eh!" Shishido grunted.

"Yes, Shishido-senpai." Choutarou had missed the ball because his attention had been diverted from the game.

"So, Hyo-chan." Yuushi started from where he got cut off. "You still haven't answered my question. Are you more familiar with tennis now?"

"Kind of. I know the scoring system now and the rules are pretty basic and obvious." Hyo replied.

"Good. Maybe I could play you one day." Yuushi replied, smirking.

"Not a good idea." Hyo immediately replied. "Just because I know the rules, it doesn't mean I know how to play. I think playing a game with me is a very bad idea. _Really_!"

"It was just a thought." Yuushi said shrugging.

"HYO-CHAN!" Jirou called, waving his arm and racquet above his head. "TENNIS BALLS PLEASE!"

"Oh, gotta deliver balls." Hyo told Yuushi as she grabbed a few balls and jogged over to Jirou, leaving Yuushi standing by the basket of tennis balls. Yuushi let out a small sigh as he made his way in the direction of Atobe.

* * *

Choutarou and Jirou's game ended with Jirou winning 6 games to 4. Next up was Atobe against Hiyoshi.

"Here Choutarou-kun. Your drink bottle." Hyo said as she handed Choutarou his drink bottle.

"Ah, arigatou!" Choutarou replied, taking his bottle.

"Jirou-kun, your drink bottle." Hyo said to Jirou, handing him his drink bottle.

"THANK YOU HYO-CHAN!" Jirou replied happily, taking his bottle.

Hyo had gotten used to her position as 'slave girl' now and didn't really mind being the ball picker and water girl and, well…slave as much as she did when she first started.

"Hyo-chan, it's Atobe-kun's game with Hiyoshi now. Watch closely because the _real_ show is about to begin." Choutarou told Hyo informingly. "Atobe-senpai's skills will blow you away."

Hyo looked at Choutarou with a skeptic expression, not quite believing that Atobe was as good as Choutarou said.

_'Sure, he's the captain, but maybe he was made captain because of his humungous ego?'_

"Okay, if you say so." She replied.

Yuushi swapped places with Gakuto as Yuushi was to umpire Atobe and Hiyoshi's match.

"Man, my butt's sore." Gakuto said when he jumped out of the umpire seat and rubbed his backside. It also happened that he had his back to Hyo, meaning he was rubbing his bottom right in front of her.

Hyo cleared her throat in disapproval.

"Um, Gakuto-kun?" She finally said. "Do you mind?"

"Eh?" Gakuto said, turning around to face Hyo, still rubbing his backside. "Mind what?"

"Mind not, you know, doing whatever you're doing." Hyo replied, not looking in his direction.

"What do you mean?" Gakuto asked, confused.

Yuushi spoke up, coming to the rescue –as usual.

"Gakuto, please do not taint Hyo-chan's brain with the image of you rubbing your backside." Yuushi said, straight to the point.

Gakuto blinked a few times, then drew in a breath of realization.

"OH!" He exclaimed. "HYO-CHAN IS A GIRL!"

"…"

"I'm glad you finally noticed I hat I'm a girl." Hyo told Gakuto, not out of annoyance, but out of relief as Gakuto finally stopped rubbing his backside.

On the opposite side of where everyone was standing, Atobe stood impatiently. Usually, he was the centre of attention and whichever side of the court he was on was where everyone, except his opponent would be. However, this was not the case today as his teammates were gathered at the opposite end of him, fussing over the fact that Gakuto was rubbing his backside in front of Hyo.

_'Ore-sama is kind of regretting making Hyo-chan slave of the team.'_

He massaged his forehead with his free hand and flicked his hair.

"Hiyoshi, let us begin out match!" Atobe said loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"…Gekokyjou…" Hiyoshi said, getting in his Enbu style tennis stance.

"One set match. Hiyoshi to serve." Yuushi announced.

And the game started.

Hiyoshi was doing well at the start, taking two rounds of the match. When the third round started, Atobe started to show his true potential. He hit each ball with precision, power, and purpose. Although Hiyoshi was managing to hit the ball back, Atobe's aim was to deteriorate Hiyoshi's stamina.

"The time is right." Atobe said to himself, smiling smugly. He hit the ball at a low angle, hitting something in between a smash and a drop shot. Hiyoshi ran to get the ball. He managed to nip the ball. The ball was lobbed back to Atobe.

'Perfect.' Atobe thought as he jumped and did his two step smash, '_Hametsu e no Rondo_'.

"Game Atobe, one game to two." Yuushi called. "Change court!"

"So what do you think, Hyo-chan?" Choutarou asked Hyo who was beside him. "Atobe-senpai is good isn't he?"

Hyo stood there, dazed.

_'What was that? That move was amazing. It's almost inspiring. I could somehow see musical movement in Ego-sama's move! Wait…I'm not supposed to be impressed!'_ Hyo was impressed, but she wasn't about to admit it.

"Yeah," She replied Choutarou casually. "It's okay, I guess."

_'What? Most girls scream when Atobe-senpai uses his signature move…'_ Choutarou laughed slowly, not knowing what to reply.

"Hyo-chan, Atobe needs a few balls." Yuushi told Hyo, looking down at her from the umpire seat.

"Oh!" Hyo said as she hurriedly grabbed two balls and jogged over to Atobe.

"Hyo-san, Ore-sama called for you three times." Atobe said irritably.

"Sorry, I didn't hear." Hyo replied, smiling sheepishly.

"Obviously. Now, Ore-sama has a game to continue, please remove yourself from the court." Atobe ordered as he put one ball in his pocket and bounced the other ball on the ground.

Hyo sighed. '_You don't have to be so mean you know, Ego-sama.'_

* * *

After Atobe showed his true potential, Hiyoshi never got a point. So, the outcome was obvious. Atobe won with a score of 6 games to 2.

"Hiyoshi-kun, your water bottle." Hyo said cheerily handing Hiyoshi his water bottle.

"…Thanks Hyo-senpai…" Hiyoshi replied, a little agitated that Hyo was acting so happy towards him after he just lost a match.

Hyo then rummaged through Atobe's tennis bag, searching for Atobe's drink bottle. When she found it, she went over to Atobe and handed Atobe his bottle.

"Here you go, Atobe-kun." Hyo said. Her hand extended, grasping his bottle.

"Hyo-san, you do not have to be so rough with Ore-sama's belongings. Ore-sama believes Ore-sama's bag is tidy enough for you to find a drink bottle in _without_ ransacking Ore-sama's tennis bag." Atobe told Hyo, taking his bottle from her.

Hyo's eyes widened in annoyance, and opened her mouth to protest –but after three seconds of thinking it through, decided against it so she shut her mouth.

_'Calm, Hyo, calm.'_ Hyo told herself, taking a deep breath. After about ten seconds of calmness, Hyo couldn't keep calm anymore because it was one of those situations where the more she thought about it, the more it annoyed her.

"Atobe-kun, I was _hardly_ ransacking through your tennis bag. It's called _looking_. Moving a few objects out of the way to get to your drink bottle is not, called, ransacking. I realize you're not a poet but, please choose your words _carefully_ or else you would be making false accusations." Hyo said heatedly. "Oh and, you know that you've never said one 'thank you' to me? Sure, I'm supposedly the 'slave' but I'm human too. Manners, I was always taught. Have you no manners, Atobe-kun?"

There was silence. The regulars had just witnessed a side of Hyo they had never seen before. She turned from oblivious and awkward to confident and strong. At the same time, they were afraid for her because no one had ever spoken to Atobe like this.

"Ore-sama was born and raised in a good family. Of course Ore-sama has manners!" Atobe flourished.

"Well then, _use it_." Hyo told Atobe.

Everyone was watching Hyo and Atobe's argument, afraid of what would happen to Hyo.

"Ore-sama does not need you to tell Ore-sama what to do!" Atobe said loudly and firmly.

"Well…well…." Hyo stammered. Her confidence had vanished.

"Well what?" Atobe asked smugly, raising an eyebrow. Hyo didn't have anymore comebacks and he knew it. No one had won an argument against him before.

"Well nothing." Hyo finally said, her cheeks were now pink from embarrassment.

"I think," Yuushi piped up. "I think we should probably be wrapping up today's practice. Don't you think so, Atobe?"

"Indeed." Atobe agreed. "Practice is over."

The regulars gathered their belongings and headed for the showers us usual, leaving Hyo behind to pick up any stray balls.

* * *

When the regulars were done with their shower, they made their way outside. Choutarou was already dressed since he hurried with his shower and was standing near the entrance.

"Oi Choutarou, lets go." Shishido said when he finished dressing.

"Shishido-senpai, you go ahead, I- forgot to do something." Choutarou replied.

Shishido gave Choutarou a weird look.

"Okay…" He said and left.

Soon, the only people left in the cloakroom were Choutarou, Gakuto and Yuushi. When Gakuto and Yuushi finished dressing, they headed towards the door. Gakuto walked out and Yuushi followed. Yuushi was about to step outside when Choutarou spoke up.

"Yuushi-senpai. May I have a word with you?" Choutarou asked.

"Of course. What is it?" Yuushi asked. Choutarou's face was the slightest pink.

"Um…Yuushi-senpai…" Choutarou said slowly.

"…Yes?" Yuushi replied equally slowly. '_He isn't about to confess his love for me is he?'_ Sometimes, Yuushi's ego could be just as big as Atobe's.

"Um…whatdoyouthinkofHyo-chan?" Choutarou said in one breath.

"Pardon? What do I think of the future?" Yuushi asked, confused.

"No. Um…" Choutarou said nervously. "What do you think…."

"Of…?"

"OfHyochan?" Choutarou said quickly.

"Choutarou, you have to speak more clearly." Yuushi told Choutarou pointedly.

"Sorry, senpai." Choutarou said, embarrassed. "What…do you….think of…Hyo-chan?

"Oh." Yuushi said, perplexed at Choutarou's question. Yuushi pondered for a while, looking thoughtful. Choutarou waited for Yuushi's answer.

"Well, she meets my requirements for looks." Yuushi said finally.

"Oh…okay." Choutarou felt his heart drop.

"But," Yuushi carried on. "She's not my type in terms of…intelligence. Not saying that she's stupid or anything. She's smart in her own way, but not the way I look for in a girl."

Choutarou's heart lifted and his face broke into a smile.

"Oh, is that so? Sorry for taking up your time, Yuushi-senpai!" Choutarou told Yuushi.

"No worries." Yuushi said while smirking inwardly. He now knew something about Choutarou others didn't know.

The boys departed the showers and found Hyo sitting on the ground outside. Her head was tilted down so her face wasn't visible, but the coper red hair which was a defining feature of Hyo immediately gave away who she was.

"…Hyo-chan. How long have you been sitting there?" Choutarou asked worriedly, thinking she might've heard his conversation with Yuushi.

Hyo remained silent and still.

"Hyo-chan?" Yuushi said, making a move to crouch down but Choutarou beat him to it.

"Hyo-chan?" Choutarou said, putting a hand on Hyo's shoulder and shook her gently. Hyo lifted her head up slowly.

"Wha…?" Hyo opened her sleepy eyes.

"Hyo-chan, you were…sleeping?" Yuushi asked.

"Hm? Oh…I think…so?" Hyo said sleepily, then she jumped up. "What? I fell asleep?"

Choutarou and Yuushi both jumped back and stood up.

"Yes Hyo-chan. You fell asleep." Choutarou said, feeling relieved that Hyo was asleep. It meant that she hadn't overheard his conversation with Yuushi.

"Oh no, what's the time?" Hyo cried, gathering her possessions and stuffing them into her bag. Both Yuushi and Choutarou noticed that Hyo was stuffing music paper in her bag, the music paper had notes written on it and it was apparently in E major.

"It's 6:30 PM" Yuushi told Hyo and bent down to pick up a pen she had dropped.

"That's the time?" Hyo said, taking her pen from Yuushi. "And thanks. AH! I'm so late. Grandma Kasumi wanted me home straight after practice! I really have to go. I can't believe I fell asleep!" Hyo slung her bag around her left shoulder and dashed off.

"Bye Hyo-chan!" Yuushi called after Hyo.

"See you tomorrow Hyo-chan!" Choutarou called.

Hyo waved an arm without turning back and kept running. After 300 meters of running she reduced to walking slowly, puffing.

"Grandma Kasumi is going to kill me. I promised I'd be there when she bakes the sponge cake so I'll know what I did wrong in Home Ec last time!"

* * *

**A/N:** **This was a boring chapterrrrrrr! **

**I've been packing my stuff for Japan most of this week, so yeah. **

**I'm leaving in a day! OMGAHH! No more updates for three weeks.**

**Hmm, I'm curious to know. WOULD YOU GUYS LIKE TO KNOW THE PAIRING OF THIS FIC? OR SHOULD I JUST LEAVE YOU GUYS TO uhh…."ASSUME" THINGS FOR YOURSELF? Sorry for yelling, it just attracts more attention.**

**Please review! (Even if it's boring. I like to know what readers think. So I know what you guys like and don't like.)**

**SEE YOU GUYS IN THREE WEEKS! OH! AND!  
**

**Yuu.**


	11. Movement X : Chit Chat

**A/N: This chapter is the first since I got back from Japan, I've kinda lost my touch x.X….Oh and FLUFF ALERT! I can't believe I'm even writing this kind of stuff…-shivers- Also, I think I made some characters a bit OOC…OMG I CAN'T WRITE T.T**

**Discalimer: I don't own PoT or Calpis.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Chit Chat.**

* * *

It was a bright and beautiful Monday morning in May. It was the middle of spring and although the blooming of cherry blossoms had come and past, the other flowers and plantation in Hyoutei's well kept gardens were at their best. It was 11:15 in the morning and the students of Hyoutei were hard at work in their classrooms.

"Atobe-kun, have you ever considered a career in acting? You do a very good job. Our drama department could use someone like you."

"Why thank you for your compliment sensei, but Ore-sama quite content with where Ore-sama is." Atobe replied full of confidence. He was Atobe Keigo, a drama king; of course he was a brilliant actor! Confident, convincing and as long as he knew what he had to act, he played the part perfectly. He just had to act out a Greek myth during Greek class.

* * *

"I have four of these bottles. These bottles contain exactly one eighth of butane and seven eighths of oxygen. A _very_ dangerous mixture. Very soon, class, you will witness the explosion I have promised you! But before that, I better remove the oxygen cylinder from the room because if something goes wrong, it could be the last experiment we'll ever do!" Mr. Sawaya told his second year chemistry students.

Choutarou sat in his desk located right in the middle of the classroom, waiting for Mr. Sawaya to return. He started to feel nervous as Mr. Sawaya was reputed as a clumsy sort of teacher whose experiments often go wrong, or don't work at all. For this particular experiment, Choutarou was hoping for the latter. If this experiment was to go wrong, the whole high school building of Hyoutei would be demolished –and Choutarou wasn't keen on dying.

"I have returned!" Mr. Sawaya announced as he bustled through the door. He reached for a one meter long ruler and cello-taped a wooden splinter to it. "Now class, as I have taught you, and as you have learned, you know that butane and oxygen EXPLODE when fire is present."

The rest of the class shifted about, nervous and like Choutarou was hoping the experiment wouldn't work.

"Would everyone sitting in the two front rows of the class maneuver themselves to the back of the room." And the students in the first two rows immediately started moving. "That's it! Squash together!"

_'Please, please let the experiment not work! But then again, judging by the four bottles of the mixture, he's planning to carry out the experiment four times.'_

"Put your fingers in your ears students! We don't want anyone becoming deaf!" Mr. Sawaya commanded as stuffed some cotton in his ear, then he got out a box of matches, struck a match and lit the wooden splinter attached to the meter ruler. When he saw that all his students had their fingers in their ears and were at least two meters away from the table he was demonstrating from. Mr. Sawaya unsealed a bottle of butane and oxygen, letting the gases escape the bottle. Mr Sawaya stood back, holding the meter ruler at arms length and held the alight wooden splinter close to the opening of the bottle and –_BOOM!_

Girls screamed. Guys sought cover underneath desks.

* * *

Hyo's chain of thought was broken by a loud bang from the next classroom.

"What the –?" The guy sitting left of Hyo muttered.

"Sawaya-sensei's class next door is probably doing an experiment." Hyo's chemistry teacher told the class.

"Kimura-sensei, why can't _we_ do an experiment?" One student complained.

"That's becau –"

_BANG_, then screams.

"Everyone, don't panic and stay put! I'm going to see what's happened!"

"Hyo-chan, d'you think Sawaya-sensei's gonna blow up the school?" The guy sitting on the left of Hyo asked her.

Hyo turned around to face him and said, "I have no idea. Let's just hope that if this building does get blown up, we'll survive anyway."

Hyo's chemistry teacher opened the door the the classroom of the colleague.

"Sawaya-sensei, is everything alright?" Kimura-sensei asked worriedly as she barged into the laboratory. As soon as she stepped in, a plastic bottle zoomed past her, missing her face by inches. The poor old lady nearly had a heart attack.

"Ah! Kimura-sensei! We're doing the butane and oxygen experiment!" Mr Sawaya replied.

A look of worry flashed over Kimura-sensei's face. "Are you sure you got the ratios right?"

"Of course! The first two bottles went smoothly!"

"Well, okay, I'll leave you to it then." Kimura-sensei replied. She gave another worried look and went back to her class.

"Sawaya-sensei's doing the butane and oxygen experiment. Nothing to be alarmed of! Back to work everyone!" Kimura-sensei told her third year chemistry class.

Assured by her teacher that the loud sounds were made because of an experiment, Hyo went back to daydreaming again. This time, she played Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture in her head.

Hyo's fourth period for the day ended as the bell rang, signaling for lunch.

* * *

Hyo walked out of her chemistry classroom and past Sawaya-sensei's class.

"Hyo-senpai!"

Hyo turned around to face a girl slightly taller than her.

"Misa-chan." Hyo greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Hyo-senpai." Misa greeted back. Before Hyo could say anything else, Misa blurted, "Hyo-senpai, please re-join the music club! We need you back desperately!"

"I…I really want to but –" Hyo started.

"But _what_ Hyo-senpai? You suddenly quit the club, just like that!"

"_Shh!_" Hyo shushed as looking around to see if anyone heard Misa.

"Hyo-senpai," Misa carried on. "The new president of the music club _sucks_."

"But Namika _can't_ be a bad president! She was elected to take over club presidency fair and square. If she was bad, people wouldn't have voted for her." Hyo told Misa. "Besides, she was the vice president when I was president and things were fine."

"That's because, Hyo-senpai, _you_ were the one making all he decisions!" Misa let out a sigh of exasperation. "People only voted Namika-senpai because she's hot tempered and scary. If she didn't get the spot, she'd go crazy for sure and become a thousand times meaner."

Hyo looked at her watch, it read 12:05. If she didn't get to the cafeteria in five minutes, Atobe would have a go at her for sighed and looked at Misa.

"Look Misa-chan, it's not that I don't want to re-join the club, it's because I can't. Not at the moment anyway." Hyo told Misa softly. "But I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"Okay." Misa agreed looking slightly down-cast. "Please have a good, long think Hyo-senpai. The music club and the school orchestra need you."

Hyo and Misa said goodbye to each other and they walked off in opposite directions. Just as Hyo was about to go down the stairs, she heard someone call out her name.

"Hyo-chan! Wait up!"

_'Wow, I'm popular today!'_

She turned around to see who was holding her up this time.

"Choutarou-kun?" Hyo exclaimed, surprised.

"I thought you were never going to stop!" Choutarou said smiling. "What's the hurry?"

"It's 12:07. Atobe-kun's not gonna be happy if I'm not at the cafeteria soon." Hyo replied, flailing her arms urgently around.

Choutarou chuckled. "Ah, I see. Let's go then."

Hyo and Choutarou started down the stairs.

"So what class did you just have?" Hyo asked Choutarou.

"Chemistry." Choutarou replied. "You?"

"I had chemistry too."

"Really?" Choutarou said. "Are you in Kimura-sensei's class?"

"Un." Hyo nodded.

"That's strange, I'm in Sawaya-sensei's class which is right next to your class. I've never seen you until now!" said Choutarou.

"_I've _never seen _you_ until now!" Hyo replied.

"Well…I'm usually the last one out of the class." Choutarou told Hyo.

"That must explain it then!" Hyo said immediately. "I'm usually one of the first to escape chemistry class." Hyo laughed.

"No wonder. So how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?" Choutarou asked curiously.

"Not really. I was stuck in the house half the time doing homework." Hyo answered flatly. "But then I went out for a walk yesterday to the music shop where I could _finally_ play–" Hyo covered her mouth with her hand.

"Play…?" Choutarou inquired, he was even more curious now. "Played an instrument?" he offered.

"No! Of course not!" Hyo replied a bit too quickly. "I played a CD…you know…music…shop…?" Seeing the confused expression on Choutarou's face, she said, "Nevermind. So, how did Sawaya-sensei's experiment go? I heard the bangs."

"Oh, haha. I can tell you in full confidence that over half the class was sure we were going to die." Choutarou said, eyes wide.

Hyo laughed. "I know for a fact that half of our class thought Sawaya-sensei would blow the whole building up!" Hyo said grinning.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking! But thanks goodness everything went fine. But the bottles whizzed around the room and most people hid under desks." Choutarou told Hyo.

"Kimura-sensei told us Sawaya-sensei had four bottles, but I only heard three bangs. What happened to the fourth?" Hyo asked.

"Oh, that one." Choutarou replied. "That one didn't work and Sawaya-sensei didn't know why. We're here." Choutarou opened the door of the cafeteria and held it open for Hyo.

"Thanks." Hyo said, smiling at Choutarou who blushed slightly as Hyo's cheeks dimpled.

They walked over to the table they usually sit at and thankfully Atobe and the others weren't there yet. Hyo plonked herself down on a seat and let out a sigh of relief.

"Would you like anything to drink, Hyo-chan?" Choutarou asked.

"Hey, I'm the slave here, so I'll be doing the drink buying okay?" Hyo said with a laugh.

"Seriously, you deserve a break. What would you like to drink?" Choutarou insisted.

"You sure you want to walk all the way over to the vending machine on _the other side of the room_?" Hyo asked.

"Absolutely." Choutarou confirmed.

"Okay…in that case…I'll have Calpis." Hyo said.

"Alright. I'll be right back." Choutarou said as he jogged slowly towards the vending machine.

"Calpis for you." Choutarou said, holding a bottle of Calpis out to Hyo.

"Thanks!" Hyo said as she took the bottle, then she reached inside her skirt pocket and pulled out a 100 yen coin and a 50 yen coin and held it out to Choutarou. "Here."

Choutarou looked at the money and blinked. Then he smiled. Then let out a little laugh.

"This one's on me Hyo-chan." Choutarou said, blushing.

Hyo cocked her head questioningly and asked herself why anyone would refuse to be paid back.

"Don't be silly, Choutarou-kun!" Hyo said as she took Choutarou's hand and placed the money in his palm.

Choutarou's body tingled at the touch of Hyo's hand. His heart began beating faster than it already was. Choutarou stared at Hyo, studying her features. He loved the way Hyo's bangs fell just above her eyes, he loved the color of her eyes and how they curved whenever she smiled. He loved how Hyo's natural expression made her look quiet and thoughtful but when she talked, she was anything but quiet!

"Are you asking for a staring competition?" Hyo piped up. Choutarou blushed furiously but still didn't look away. "Okay, but I'm warning you beforehand that I'm hopeless at staring competitions."

Hyo looked at Choutarou right in the eyes.

_'Wow, he has nice eyes.'_

After a few seconds, Hyo couldn't keep a straight face anymore and looked away then burst out laughing. Hyo's laugh made Choutarou want to laugh too.

"I told you I was hopeless at staring competitions!" Hyo said still laughing.

"All the better for me then, isn't it? Because I win!" Choutarou replied grinning.

* * *

When the Hyoutei regulars finally arrived, Hyo and Choutarou were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice the regulars until Jirou yelled "HYO-CHAN!" and Yuushi tapped Choutarou on the back.

"Enjoying yourself, Choutarou?" Yuushi asked.

Choutarou blushed a little and Yuushi gave him a knowing, evil grin.

Atobe sat down in his usual seat and announced that he was famished.

"Yeah, and Choutarou-kun and I are both starving! We've been waiting for 10 minutes for you guys. What took so long?" Hyo demanded.

"Ore-sama had to go to the tennis clubroom for a chat with Sasaki-sensei." Atobe replied as Kabaji laid out his lunch in front of him.

"Yeah, and we all kind of bumped into each other and Atobe told us to wait for him." Gakuto continued.

"So we waited outside and," Shishido growled, shooting a glare at Atobe, "and we got mobbed by fangirls."

"It turns out that over half the population of our fangirls like to hide behind our clubrooms at the start of lunch to try their luck." Yuushi said.

"SO WE HAD TO RUN AWAY FROM THEM! IT WAS FUN" Jirou said happily.

" …we had to detour our way here…so we became late…" Hiyoshi concluded.

Hyo scratched her head.

"Okay." She said blinking. She was now too hungry to think and figured she should start eating like what the regulars were already doing.

Surprisingly, Hyo ate her lunch with the least disturbance in the whole two weeks she had now been 'slave' of the tennis team.

* * *

Hyo was exhausted and was shocked at how much she had sweat when all she had done the entire afternoon was pick up tennis balls.

"Hyo-chan! Do you want me to run the bath for you?" Kasumi asked.

"No, I'll be fine thanks Grandma Kasumi!" Hyo called back from the shower.

Sn preparation for the Kantou tournament, the regulars trained harder than ever, which meant more balls went flying and more balls for Hyo to pick up.

Hyo sighed.

_'Mid-term tests are coming up. I'll have to work really hard and get good grades if I ever want a piano back in the house again. But then again, I have to look on the bright side; I won't be the one only one that has to work hard. Some people like the guys on the tennis team have to work even harder because they have commitments to sports and school. Besides, after the exams, it'll be the holidays. I can relax all I want when that time comes! Fight on, Hyo! Hmm, I wonder when Father's gonna come home…'_

* * *

Hyo emerged from her bathroom and got dressed. She ate dinner alone as her mother had become increasingly busy with work.

After dinner, Hyo travelled upstairs to her room and grudgingly reached for her school bag and dragged out her textbooks. She looked at her watch. She had exactly 5 hours and 13 minutes to study before bedtime.

"Here I go." Hyo said taking a big breath as she opened her Biology textbook.

Hyo awoke to her cellphone vibrating. She lifted her face up from her Chemistry textbook and looked at her watch. 10:36pm.

"Ah. I fell asleep _again_?" Hyo said in disbelief. Then she turned her attention to her mobile.

_'An unknown number…?'_

Confused, she picked it up and answered it anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hyo-chan this i –"

Hyo cut the caller off. She recognized the voice.

"Atobe-kun? How did you get my number?" She asked, very confused.

"Yuushi gave it to me." Atobe said.

"Okay…so…is there anything I can help you with?" Hyo replied.

"I just wanted to inform you that Sasaki-sensei has plans for morning practice tomorrow so your presence is not needed. You can have a break." Atobe told her.

"Oh, okay." Hyo said as she punched the air.

_'Yes! I can sleep in tomorrow morning!'_

Then she remembered she was still on the phone.

"So, is that all?"

"Yes, that's all I wanted to say." Atobe said. "Good night."

"Good night." Hyo said then hung up.

Smiling to herself because she was so happy that after two weeks, she could finally wake up at 7 instead of 6, she stared back down at her chemistry textbook.

As usual, Hyo couldn't focus and started dozing off again.

* * *

**A/N: Blehhhhh! This is such a crap chapter! -.-"**

**Read and review please!  
**

**Yuu.**


	12. Movement XI : Soft Spot

**A/N: ****So, anyone notice that Atobe started addressing Hyo as Hyo-chan instead of Hyo-san in the phone call...and stopped calling himself 'Ore-sama' :p teehee**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PoT!**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Soft Spot**

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Hyo got to have a break from morning practice since coach Sasaki had other plans for the tennis regulars.

Hyo bent down and picked up a tennis ball and chucked it in the basket with the rest of them. She had beenbeen slaving for the tennis club for just a few weeks over a month now. Indeed that the original punishment was only for a month, but a few weeks ago…

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-Flashback-/_

"Come on Hyo-chan. It'll be fun." Yuushi insisted as he led Hyo by the arm onto tennis court A.

Choutarou stared after them, trying to look as apathetic as possible.

"Don't worry Hyo-chan! You'll be a pro once Yuushi's finished with you!" Gakuto called after them happily.

"Yuushi-kun, I _really_ don't think it's a good idea…" Hyo said as she tried to struggle against Yuushi, digging her heels into the ground trying to gain some friction, but Yuushi was too strong for her and his grip on her arm tightened.

"Relax Hyo-chan!" Yuushi said suavely as he handed Hyo his spare tennis racquet. He then made his way to the opposite side of the court.

Yuushi bounced the tennis ball on the ground a few times then positioned to seve.

"Ready?" He called.

"YES – NO –!"

Too late, the ball came zooming towards Hyo and she wasn't ready for it at all. Nevertheless, she swung, the weight of Yuushi's racquet propelled her arm. Then, suddenly, the weight disappeared and momentum ceased.

Realising what happened, Hyo yelled.

"WATCH OUT!"

At that very moment, Kabaji opened the fenced door of the tennis courts and Atobe stepped through. Yuushi's spare racquet hit Atobe's forehead with a loud _thunk_. Letting out a groan as pain shot through his head, he lifted his hand and reached to touch the spot on his forehead where the racquet had hit.

Hyo turned and when she saw Atobe with a hand on his forehead eyes closed in pain, she gasped and rushed over.

"I am _so_ sorry!" Hyo started, "Oh my gosh, I am so, so, so, so sorry!"

She was so shocked by what had happened that all she could do was apologise. She reached out to move Atobe's hand out of the way so she could inspect the wound but Atobe backed away, scared that she might accidentally inflict more pain on him.

"_You_ inflicted this wound on Ore-sama?" Atobe said with fire in his eyes. "You – this is the second time! First a tennis ball, now a racquet. Are you trying to kill Ore-sama?"

"What? No! Even though there are plenty of reasons why I would _want_ to kill you, but no, I am not trying to kill you! They were both accidents!" Hyo retorted, "An accident!"

"Yes, you and your clumsiness," Atobe talked back. "It'll eventually cause the death of someone one day!"

"I beg your pardon? But I most certainly will not cause someone's death!" Hyo replied heatedly. How dare Atobe say such a thing about her?

"Not intentionally of course, but who knows what sort of accidents your clumsiness will cause." Atobe replied fluidly.

"Not only are you clumsy, but you're disaster prone too." Atobe continued, "Having you hang around the tennis courts, you've probably infected me with all your disaster prone traits which has resulted in _this_!"

Hyo opened and shut her mouth a few more times. She had to admit that she was pretty clumsy and disaster prone. She did not know what else to say and was unable to come up with a strong enough argument. This was the second time she's lost an argument with Atobe. Why was it that she could never get the last say, she questioned herself.

Finally she spoke. "I said I was sorry and I know that apologies won't fix up your wound, but I have a first aid kit in my bag…" Hyo said calmly and quietly.

Atobe's expression softened as he accepted Hyo's offer with a curt nod and walked over to the spectator benches and sat down.

The other regulars looked at each other questioningly with confused looks, shrugged, and then started making their way over to Atobe and Hyo. However, Choutarou and Yuushi watched the pair closely. Choutarou frowned while Yuushi smirked.

Hyo fetched her bag and took out a small first aid kit from a side compartment of her bag. She disinfected her hands with some hand sanitizer and examined Atobe's wound. The graze was just above his right eyebrow. Hyo felt a twinge of guilt as she realized that the racquet had narrowly missed Atobe's eye, but she was very fortunate it had because then the accident would have cause serious damage. She pushed away the terrible thought and continued to examine the wound. It wasn't deep and bleeding was quite minimal as it had already stopped, but there was a round red mark around it. Hyo brushed across it lightly with her thumb and discovered that it was a bump.

"So, how bad is it?" Atobe questioned.

Hyo described the wound to Atobe.

"But like I said, the graze isn't very deep at all. As long as you keep it clean and dry and don't pick at the scab when it forms, it should heal quite quickly and won't leave a scar." Hyo finished.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to pick at scabs?" Atobe said, rolling his eyes.

"Some people pick off their scabs subconsciously because it gets itchy when the skin underneath is trying to repair itself, so they scratch at it." Hyo said pointedly. "It's not a matter of being smart or stupid."

"Well, I don't think I've ever done anything subconsciously before." Atobe replied.

Hyo looked at Atobe with a raised eyebrow and decided to drop the issue.

"Never done anything subconsciously. Ridiculous." She muttered.

The other regulars all remained silent as they registered the fact that Atobe no longer addressed himself as "Ore-sama" anymore but rather used "I" or "me" instead. Yuushi, Gakuto, Shishido and Choutarou shuffled further away from Hyo and Atobe and formed a group.

"Yuushi-kun, do you think…that…they might…" Choutarou started.

Yuushi gave a sly smile and replied. "Perhaps, this is where the real competition begins."

"What are you two on about?" Gakuto asked.

"Nothing!" Choutarou replied at once.

Shishido cocked an eyebrow. "So…" he started, changing the subject. "Is it just me, or was that the most civilized argument you've ever heard? There was no name-calling or anything."

"Shishido, not everyone uses name-calling during an argument like you and Gakuto. Also, they're both well-mannered people so really, there are no surprises there." Yuushi replied. "What I am surprised about is how Hyo-chan knows some medical stuff when she's pretty much only just scraping through in biology and chemistry." Yuushi said as he looked back over at Atobe and Hyo.

Hyo had cleaned the wound with some water from her drink bottle and a piece of fine gauze. She had said that because the wound isn't deep, there's not a big risk of infection. In this case it's better to not use antiseptic as antiseptic can damage the skin.

"Beats me. It must just be because she's been injured so many times or something." Shishido said.

"Okay. I'm done." Hyo said as she put a plaster over the wound.

"Finally." Atobe said. "But you know, I'm not going to let you off easily this time."

"But–" Hyo started to say something but Atobe cut her off.

"You are now enslaved to the tennis club. Indefinitely."

"No. Way." Was was Hyo managed to say.

"Yes, way." Atobe said smugly.

_-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-End flashback-/_

– And that was how Hyo ended up where she was right now, picking up tennis balls even though she had already served her original punishment time of a month. Just thinking about what happened made her kick herself. If only she hadn't been so clumsy. If only she hadn't swung the racquet trying to hit the ball. If only she hadn't let Yuushi drag her onto that tennis court! If only…then she would not be here right now. She had been picking up tennis balls for four hours straight now. She was tired, hungry and there was a truckload of homework for her to do.

"You know, you guys should really take a break. It's been four hours since you guys first started practice." Hyo suggested to Atobe. "I think you should let everyone go home now!"

"Breaks are for the weak. I'll let everyone home when I think we've done enough practise." Atobe answered then continued to practice serving. He was working to improve the speed of his serves. "Get back to picking up balls."

"It's nearly time for dinner. Can I please go home? I have a lot of homework to do tonight!" Hyo carried on talking, ignoring Atobe's order.

Atobe stopped what he was doing and walked over to Hyo. "Okay. It's six right now. If you start heading for home at seven and arrive around seven forty-five . Shower, eat dinner, whatever, that will probably take up an hour and a half, so that'll be nine fifteen? Then let's just say your bed time is around twelve. That's nearly three hours to do homework. Plenty of time."

"You know I'm not as smart as you. I take forever to get all my homework done. I feel like I'm fighting the longest war in history when I'm trying to finish everything. I feel like I'm fighting in World War two or something!" Hyo replied.

"Honestly, you have Yuushi as your mentor! Haven't you improved in your studies at all?" Atobe said impatiently. He wanted to go back to practicing his serves.

"No, you're missing the point. I know how to do the questions now. But they're hard so I take a long time trying to solve them!" Hyo replied. "Please, can I go home?"

Atobe ran his hand through his hair and looked around the courts. "Whatever. With your efficiency, or rather, lack of efficiency in picking up the balls, you're not really helping much anyway."

"I would have been happy with just a 'yes' for an answer. But thank you." Hyo said sourly, then turned to get her belongings.

As Hyo walked off, Yuushi approached Atobe with a smirk. "Looks like you've developed a soft spot for her."

"Don't be stupid. She wouldn't be doing her job properly anyway if I made her stay. Besides, she was keeping me from my practice with her incessant begging. I was doing myself a favour by sending her home." Atobe replied. "Isn't that right, Kabaji?"

"Ussu!" Kabaji said, suddenly appearing beside Atobe, alarming Yuushi making him jump.

"Whoa Kabaji, you have got to stop doing that!" Yuushi said with one hand on his chest.

* * *

Atobe sat in his huge bathtub in the bathroom, soaking in steaming, hot water, allowing the water to take away all the fatigue that had built up. In addition to the increasing amounts of school work, the Kantou tournament was just a month away. He would never allow himself to show it, but his stress levels were at the peak.

He cupped some water in his hand and washed his face. Closing his eyes and leaning back to rest his head on the edge of the bathtub, he started to replay all the events that had happened throughout the day. What classes he had, what the teachers talked about during class, the pop quiz they had in Greek – which he found a piece of cake. He thought about conversations he had and who they were with. When he got to Hyo asking him if she could go home, the corners of his lips started to curl upward.

"World war two doesn't even come close to being one of the longest wars in history. Who in the world even describes doing homework as fighting a war anyway?" Atobe scoffed to himself with a smile. "That idiot."

Then he paused. Why was he smiling at the thought of what that stupid girl said? At that moment, what Yuushi said came into his mind. Was he really developing a soft spot for her? He shook his head. No, that's impossible. He's purely just laughing at her idiocy. Yes, that's right, he's just laughing at her.

"I've been in here too long, the steam must be clouding my mind." Atobe said and made to get out of the bath. "Time to get some study done."

* * *

**A/N: So, this is the end of my long over-due short update! MANY MANY a****pologies for the poor quality of this chapter ;_;**

**Lastly, please R&R (: Greatly appreciated!**

**Yuu.**


	13. Movement XII : First Move

**A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. I can't seem get out of my writer's block ): Hope this chapter is up to standard! It's my longest chapter to date!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: First Move.**

* * *

"Oi Shishido, the day's just started, what happened to all your energy!" Chiharu called from the spectator stands as Shishido ran past her and Hyo.

The Hyoutei boys' tennis club were warming up for morning practice by running laps around the tennis courts. Atobe was in the very front, followed by the rest of the regulars all except Shishido who was behind the remaining members of the tennis club.

"Be quiet, Chisaru! I'm only behind because I was late getting here!" Shishido shouted back at her.

"Stop calling me 'a thousand monkeys'!" Chiharu called back, sounding only mildly annoyed. "You better pick up your pace anyway, or else you'll fall even more behind!"

"Be quiet and watch me make them all eat my dust, Chisaru!" Shishido yelled as he started to run faster.

"This is so entertaining, I don't see why you don't enjoy this tennis club stuff more." Chiharu said as she nudged Hyo who was sitting beside her.

"The fact that it's only 7 in the morning might be why I'm not enjoying this more. Though I have to admit that it's not as horrible as when I first got enslaved." Hyo gave a big yawn and rubbed her eyes.

The boys' tennis club stopped at 50 laps started to do some stretches. The regulars stayed in the current court while the other members scattered off to their respective courts.

"Well, looks like they're about to start. I'd better go get the tennis ball basket trolley." Hyo said to Chiharu and she walked down the spectator benches.

"Wait up, I'll walk down with you." Chiharu said, getting up and also walking down.

* * *

Hyo was putting down the baskets of tennis balls on either side of courts A and B when Atobe approached her.

"What is the story with your friend arn? She keeps coming to all our morning and lunch practices and yelling at Shishido. It's rather distracting." he said cocking his head in the direction of Chiharu.

Hyo looked over at Chiharu who was now throwing tennis balls at Shishido who either dodged them or caught them in his hand.

"You idiot! Say that again, I dare you!" Chiharu yelled, chucking another tennis ball at Shishido.

"I don't know." Hyo replied with a shrug. "But she seems to be having fun."

"Well tell her to lower the volume of her voice. Unless of course, she wants to cheer for me. " Atobe replied walking away. "It's a delicate time with the Kantou tournament right after the Tokyo prefecturals. The fewer the distractions for my team members, the better."

"Right." said Hyo following after Atobe. "This tournament thing is actually really stressing you out, isn't it?"

"Arn? Don't be stupid. Nothing can make a superior human being like myself stressed." Atobe said, waving a hand at Hyo without turning to look at her.

Hyo stopped in her tracks and let out a sigh.

_Just when I think he's not so bad, he goes ahead and proves me wrong._

Hyo turned around to walk in the opposite direction and saw Choutarou making his way toward her. Hyo gave him a big cheery smile and wave.

"Good morning, Choutarou-kun."

"Good morning, Hyo-chan!" Choutarou greeted energetically. "How-"

"All right everyone! Don't just stand around, get some practice done!" Atobe ordered suddenly.

Hyo gave a smile and replied Choutarou, "I'm still a little sleepy, but I'm good, thank you."

"That's great to know." Choutarou said grinning.

"You better get started on tennis practice or else Ego-sama over there will somehow find a miserable way to get you to make up for it!" Hyo told Choutarou.

"You're right. I really shouldn't be slacking off anyway with the tournament just around the corner." he replied.

"Get going then!" Hyo said as she started walking away.

* * *

Morning practice ended fifteen minutes before homeroom.

"Hyo-chan," Choutarou said as he walked toward Hyo. "I'll help you with the tennis balls."

"It's okay. I'm nearly done, and I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation before." Hyo replied, looking up at Choutarou while she picked up the stray tennis balls around her feet. "If you help me-"

"Atobe-kun will extend your slavery time? It makes no difference now that you're 'enslaved' to the boys' tennis club indefinitely." Choutarou said with a smile. He picked up a tennis ball and threw it into the half-empty basket Hyo had now lifted up.

"I suppose..." Hyo started slowly.

Choutarou reached for the half-empty basket in Hyo's arms.

"Hey! I haven't decided if I'll let you help yet!" Hyo said, turning to keep the basket out of Choutarou's reach.

Choutarou gave a little chuckle, shaking his head as he reached for the basket again. This time he got a hold of it before Hyo could move it out of his reach. He took the basket from Hyo and held it in front of him.

"Come on Hyo-chan, there's no time to lose. The homeroom teacher of the other regulars and I cut us some slack for being late cause they know we practice in the morning. But I don't think they'll let you off as easily" Choutarou told Hyo. "So, let's chuck 'em in."

"All right then." Hyo replied. She poured an armful of tennis balls that she had picked up while Choutarou was talking into the basket.

In no time, all the tennis balls were cleared off the courts and Choutarou helped Hyo load the baskets onto the trolley.

"So, Hyo, are you all done here? Ready to go to class?" Chiharu piped up, suddenly appearing beside Hyo.

"Chiharu! You're still here? I thought you would've gone to homeroom by now." Hyo replied.

"No, I'm waiting for you, silly!" Chiharu answered.

"Oh, you didn't have to! You should've just left first, now you only have four minutes to get to class!" Hyo said. She turned around to start pushing the tennis ball basket trolley but it was gone. "Hey, where did it go?"

"The trolley? Yeah, Ootori-kun just carted it off a second ago. You should really pay more attention to your surroundings." Chiharu replied.

"Now that you mention surroundings, where have all the other regulars gone?" Hyo asked.

"They went to the locker room and I presume that's where Ootori-kun would be heading once he puts the trolley back where it belongs. So, like you mentioned before, we only have a few minutes to get to homeroom, we better get going!" Chiharu said, linking her right arm through Hyo's left arm and started walking in the direction of the classroom building.

* * *

Hyo and Chiharu reached homeroom just seconds before the bell rang. Yuushi was a few minutes late but managed to get in before his name was called out on the roll.

When the bell rang again to signal the end of homeroom, Hyo let out a big sigh.

"What's up?" Chiharu asked as she picked up her bag.

"Time to face the nightmare that math is." she replied grimly while she walked beside Chiharu toward the door.

"Good luck with your mock test in math today, Hyo-chan" Yuushi said to Hyo when he walked past her. "Remember the tips I gave you. Report back to me about how it went at lunch. See you!"

* * *

Most days, lunch time would be a time that Hyo looked forward to. Even though lunch time would mean being bossed around by Atobe, it was still a time that she could take a breath from being suffocated by classes.

However, her mock test in math was disastrous and she was not ready to break the news to Yuushi yet. She slouched down even further in her seat and put a hand on her forehead.

"Hyo-san, it's time for lunch. I have to lock up the chemistry lab." Mrs. Kimura told Hyo once she had finished tidying up her lesson notes.

"Can I please stay here just a while longer?" Hyo asked her elderly, small-framed chemistry teacher.

"Are you feeling unwell from all the fumes of the esters?" Mrs. Kimura replied. "You're usually the first one out of this lab but today you want to stay for a while longer?"

"No, I'm not feeling well, I-I just..." Hyo started.

"It's all right, Hyo-san." Mrs. Kimura had walked to Hyo's seat and gave Hyo a little pat on her back. "I'll give you ten minutes. When I come back to lock up, you have to leave."

Hyo gave her teacher a small smile. She didn't particularly care for chemistry, but she definitely knew she liked her chemistry teacher the best.

"Thank you, Kimura-sensei."

Sitting there in her seat, Hyo thought about how she should report back to Yuushi. She stared at the blackboard without blinking, hoping that if she stared long enough and hard enough, an answer would magically appear.

Her stare was soon broken by the buzzing of her cellphone.

_Oshitari Yuushi 12:11PM  
_**You only have four minutes left before Atobe stamps you as "late".**

Hyo bit her lip and started typing a reply message, then hit the delete button. She did this a few times before coming up with a final reply.

**Sorry. I have some things to discuss with Kimura-sensei so I can't make it to lunch today!**

As soon as Hyo put down her cellphone, it buzzed again.

"Whoa, how fast can he type!" Hyo said as she flipped open her phone.

_Oshitari Yuushi 12:12PM  
_**Ootori said he saw Kimura-sensei leave the classroom the same time he came out of his classroom. What's the real reason you don't want to come to lunch?**

"Choutarou-kun! Why did you have to tell him!" Hyo said gloomily to her phone.

Unable to think up a legitimate sounding excuse, Hyo decided it would be easier to just face Yuushi. Besides, the earlier she does it, the faster it's over and done with.

**Fine. On my way. But I'll never make it over on time so you better have my back if Atobe-kun gives me a hard time for being late!**

Hyo hit the send button, grabbed her bag, headed out the door and started making her way to the cafeteria.

* * *

Upon arriving at the cafeteria, she walked straight to the tennis regulars' usual table. Instead of sitting in her usual seat opposite Atobe, she went to stand beside Yuushi who looked up at her questioningly.

She stood still for a few seconds until a waterfall of words gushed out of her mouth.

"Yuushi-kun, I'm so sorry! The math test was a total disaster. I wasn't confident in answering half the questions! To make things worse, I ran out of time to do the last two questions and they were worth 10 marks each. So, it means that, if I did get every question right, the highest mark I would be able to get is 80%!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa Hyo-chan, slowly, take a breath. Calm down." Yuushi said holding up two hands.

"But like I said I wasn't confident in my answers for half the questions I answered which cuts me down to 40%, that's 10% off a pass. I'VE FAILED IT!" Hyo concluded, looking and feeling distressed.

The tennis regulars exchanged sideway glances, surprised and overwhelmed by Hyo's sudden outburst.

"Okay," Yuushi started, "First of all, you don't know anything for sure. Of course, it's preferable that you're confident when solving the questions. However, just because you weren't confident doesn't mean you answered wrong."

Hyo took a deep breath and nodded.

"Secondly, it was only a mock test, not the real thing so it doesn't mark the end of your quest to qualify for university." Yuushi carried on. "The only bad thing if you really _did_ fail that test would be that it _will_ show up on your school transcript.

"But you've already got plenty of bad marks recorded on it, one more won't make a difference." Atobe piped up.

Hyo turned her head to glare at him.

"Can you _please_ not interrupt my conversation with unkind comments?" Hyo said to Atobe, then turned her attention back to Yuushi.

"Is there a thirdly?" Hyo asked.

"Thirdly and lastly, until the result comes out, don't think about it." Yuushi replied. "Now, time to eat lunch."

"Okay...oh, and before I sit down, does anyone want me to get them anything? Drink? Serviettes? Salt? Pepper?" Hyo said while she walked to her usual seat.

"No, we're all settled since you came late." Atobe told her.

"Yeah, Choutarou offered to fill in for you." Gakuto said with a snigger.

Hyo looked over at Choutarou and a blush crept across his face.

"Here, Hyo-chan, I got you a drink too." he said, holding out a bottle of Calpis to her.

"Oh, thank you, Choutarou-kun!." Hyo said, taking the drink. She pulled out her chair and plonked herself in the seat. "Looks like I can eat in peace today!"

* * *

For the remainder of the day, Hyo could not help feeling depressed even though Yuushi told her not to think about how horrible the math test went for her until the results came out. Atobe's comment at lunch although unkind was truthful. Hyo's school transcript did have a fair amount of bad grades recorded on it, she wasn't happy about receiving bad marks but she had never felt depressed over the matter before.

_Maybe I'm trying to tell myself that it's time to take my academics seriously..._

The same thought circled around her mind all through the afternoon's classes, during her tutoring session with Yuushi and while she picked up balls for the tennis regulars.

"Bye guys, see you tomorrow morning." Hyo said to the regulars through the closed door of the locker room.

"Bye Hyo-chan." she heard some of the regulars yell from the clubroom as she walked away.

_Time to go home and study hard!_

* * *

Another hard day of school and training had past. Atobe was now sprawled across his bed, feeling refreshed after a long bath. There was homework to be done but he didn't particularly feel like doing it just yet. The Kantou tournament was the only thing on his mind right now.

"It'd be nice if we can win this year..." He mumbled. The previous year, Hyoutei had come second, loosing to RikkaiDai. This was his last year of high school and also the last possible chance he had to win the tournament for Hyoutei. Thinking about it more and more, he became restless. Jumping off his bed and putting on a big robe over his pajamas, he exited his room.

Walking past several rooms down the hallway, he came to an abrupt stop when he heard the faint utterance of his name. Atobe was never the type of person to eavesdrop, but upon hearing his name being mentioned, he became curious. Standing just outside his parents' room, Atobe stood as still as he could, controlling the volume and rhythm of his breathing. He listened intently through the door which was open by a fraction.

"So what conclusion did everyone come to?" Atobe heard his mother ask.

"Well, all our big shareholders agreed with my opinion. Seeing as it was pretty much set in stone the day he was born that Keigo would take over the company, now that he's in his last year of high school, I feel that Keigo can start observing at the company. Even give him some small jobs to do, some shareholders suggested." His father replied.

Atobe wasn't surprised at a single word his father had just said. It had always been a given that he would take over the family's multi-million dollar company which owned an unbelievably large amount of smaller businesses scattered throughout Japan.

"He won't be taking over until he graduates university at the earliest. Don't you think it's just a bit too early right now?" His mother asked.

_I'd be very fortunate to be able to take over the company as soon as I graduate university. There's still much much more I need to learn before then._

"Well, the sooner he starts observing, the more familiar he will be with how the company's run by the time he takes over. Which means the process of passing over the position of CEO to him will be smoother and more easily accepted by everyone." His father answered. "I'm thinking of getting him to come into the company after his school hours."

Atobe held his breath.

_This is bad, this is really bad. If I have to go to the company after school, that means...I can't continue with my tennis._

"But darling, that would mean he won't be able to continue his tennis activities. You know how much he enjoys it."

_Thank you mother, you read my mind!_ Atobe let out a breath as quietly as he could.

"Yes, I know, and you have to agree that we have always been supportive of him in that aspect. It's regrettable that other than after school, there is no other time as suitable. It might just have to be a sacrifice he has to make, for his future and the future of the company." His father's deep voice passed through the barely open door.

Atobe decided he didn't want to hear any more of what his parents were discussing and tip toed past their room and down the marble stairs into their luxurious lounge and out onto the patio.

He paced backwards and forwards, around and around in circles. Just before he overheard his parent's conversation, he had been thinking to himself how this was his last year to obtain championship for Hyoutei in the Kantou tournament. After hearing his parent's discussion, the fact that he might have to stop tennis, the thought and reality of the importance of the tournament hit him harder that ever.

"This one is too important. I can't lose. We can't lose." Atobe said under his breath.

* * *

"Hyo-chan!" Chiharu called as she skipped into the tennis courts.

Hyo greeted Chiharu with a wave. Apart from the morning practices, lately, Chiharu also started to go the tennis courts after her sprinting training. She says it's to keep Hyo company. Although it sort of made sense, Chiharu seemed to spend more time debating with Shishido, sometimes about the most trivial things than she did talking to Hyo. But in fairness, the tennis regulars were keeping Hyo busy with all the tennis balls that needed to be picked up so she wasn't any good for company either.

Looking around, Chiharu saw the determined faces of the tennis regulars, playing practice matches against each other, all of them going all out.

"It's been like this for a few days now hasn't it? This tense atmosphere."

Hyo sighed, "Yeah, the tournament is in a few days, everyone's worried about it."

"Everyone? Atobe-kun seems fine to me, he's the only one who still has a rather relaxed looking face."

"Well, I don't know. There's just something about him that gives me the feeling that he's actually really stressed about the tournament. Before, you could hear his voice quite often. Giving out instructions, even some words of encouragement to the non-regulars. But these few days, it's like he's lost his voice."

"Wow, this ball picking thing and being around these tennis guys, has done you some good! You're now more observant and less clueless!" Chiharu exclaimed and clapped happily.

Hyo put a finger to her lips. "Don't be too loud, remember what I said about Atobe-kun wanting you to keep your voice down?"

"Sorry, sorry, and since when did you start calling him Atobe-kun? It was always Ego-sama!" Chiharu replied looked around again then smiled. "You know Hyo-chan, it's kind of nostalgic, this tense atmosphere, don't you think?"

"Nostalgic? How so?"

"You used to be like this too. Except it had nothing to do with tennis of course. Every time you had a piano competition coming up, all you would do is practice, practice, practice. You wouldn't stop, even when you knew all the pieces off by heart down to each note, each rest. You gave off the same sort of tense atmosphere."

"Really? Maybe that's why I sort of feel, I don't know, like I can understand how they're feeling." Hyo said. She bent down to pick up some tennis balls that had rolled over. "You know how I practiced and practiced, it wasn't because I didn't think I was prepared enough. It was because piano was and is still the only thing I'm good at. That's why, those competitions were so important to me. I wanted to win them, to prove that I could be the best at the only thing I'm good at."

Chiharu smiled. "Well, you've achieved that haven't you? You've won all of them and I'm not just saying this because I'm your best friend, but you deserved to win. You're the best piano player I know." Chiharu told Hyo, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks." Hyo replied with a weak smile.

"I'd better get going now, it's getting late. See you tomorrow and be careful on your way home!" Chiharu said while skipping away.

"You too! Be careful on your way home!"

* * *

An hour passed and it was becoming difficult to see. Hyo felt around the ground blindly, hoping to find some tennis balls to pick up. Only the regulars were left now. The other members of the tennis club were given permission to leave by Atobe and had slowly left for home one by one. Today's practice has been one of the longest training sessions yet. The regulars had been playing for four hours, only taking the occasional water break every now and then.

"How is it possible they can still be practicing? I can't even see the tennis balls when they're stationary and on the ground, how can they see the ball when it's moving?" Hyo wondered out loud.

"Alright guys. I think we'll stop here today." Atobe's voice echoed through the courts. "I think there's a slight issue with the sensors of the floodlights. They're not turning on."

The tennis regulars all stopped, returned the tennis balls they were using into the basket and headed to the spectator benches where they had put their bags. Hyo pushed the trolley of tennis balls to the side and also made her way to the spectator stands. Everyone gathered their belongings in silence, too worn out from training to say anything. Suddenly, Atobe made an announcement.

"Good job everyone. We trained for a long time today. Have a good rest when you all get home. If you are to do private training, make sure you don't tire yourself out." Atobe told the tennis regulars.

"Fair enough, I suppose." Yuushi said.

"Since when did you become so thoughtful and kind, Atobe?" Gakuto said with a snigger. Hyo let out a giggle too.

"Be quiet. Ore-sama has always been a considerate being! By the way, where is Jirou?"

"I think Akutagawa-kun is asleep, right here." Hyo replied, pointing to the bench next to her. Everyone let out a sigh.

"Typical." Shishido said rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I better get going now. I'm starving." Slinging his tennis bag over his shoulder, he started walking towards the gate.

"Yeah, same." Hiyoshi said with his bag over his shoulders and followed Shishido. "Bye."

Everyone seemed to have the same idea and started walking towards the gate.

"Kabaji, carry Jirou. Let's take him home."

"Ussu."

* * *

"Well, this is awkward." Gakuto commented. "We said our goodbyes at the courts but all ended up walking to the school entrance together."

"You just made it even more awkward by pointing it out, Gakuto." Shishido replied.

"I don't get it. How is it awkward?" Hyo asked.

Atobe sighed and flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Never you mind, clueless, as always. Inferior being."

"Hey!" Hyo said with a frown.

"Okay, both of you, cut it out." Yuushi said in his smooth voice.

"Since it's getting dark, someone should see to Hyo-chan getting home safely." Yuushi suggested.

"Oh, no, no, it's fine. I've always gone home by myself and nothing's ever happened so it's fine, really!" Hyo said waving a hand.

"What if tonight just happens to be the night that something does happen? Knowing you, you'll probably run into some sort of trouble." said Atobe.

Hyo let out a sigh, shaking her head and decided to not even bother with Atobe.

"Well then, would anyone like to do the honours?" Yuushi asked.

"Hyo-chan, let's go." Choutarou said with a smile. "I'll walk with you."

Hyo nodded and saying a quick goodbye, started walking, with Choutarou along side her.

After the other regulars had left and only Yuushi, Atobe and Kabaji remained at the school gates, Yuushi turned to Atobe.

"It's alright to be honest with your feelings, you know?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Yuushi" Atobe answered back unfazed.

* * *

"You know, you really don't have to accompany me home. I've been going home by myself all the time lately and it's fine." Hyo said.

"It's no trouble. Besides, I take this route home too, so it's on the way, really." Choutarou said waving a hand. "Shall we cross the road?"

Hyo replied with a nod.

They crossed the road and now walked along a row of restaurants.

"Mmm, it sure smells good! Can't wait to get home and eat!" Hyo exclaimed taking a big whiff of the surrounding smells.

"If you're hungry, we could eat something in one of these restaurants." Choutarou suggested.

"Eh? Well...I am pretty hungry and you must be starving too..." Hyo said thoughtfully. "All right! Let's eat!"

Choutarou's face broke out into a wide smile. "What would you like to eat?"

"How about that place?" Suggested Hyo, pointing to a small, modest ramen shop.

They walked into the ramen shop and sat down at the counter.

"Hi there you two. What could you like to order?" the chef behind the counter asked.

"I'll have a tonkotsu ramen with seaweed topping and an extra egg please." Hyo said.

"And I will also have a tonkotsu ramen, with all the toppings available." Choutarou told the chef.

"Comin' right up!" the chef replied them.

"So, Choutarou-kun. How are you feeling about the upcoming tournament?" Hyo said, turning in her seat to face Choutarou.

"Nervous, but at the same time, excited." Choutarou replied. "I'm definitely feeling the pressure though since Hyoutei came in second place last year. We have a big reputation to upkeep."

"You guys have been training so hard these past few weeks. I think it'll be a breeze for Hyoutei to get into the semi-finals at least, right?" Hyo asked.

"Yeah, I think the semi-finals will definitely give us some tough competition. But you know, we shouldn't let our guard down, not even in the preliminaries." Choutarou told Hyo. "Good thing Atobe-kun is a good captain, he's not too stressed which gives the rest of us a sort of feeling of reassurance."

Hyo lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really? I thought at least you guys would be able to see it since you've known Atobe-kun for ages..." Hyo replied.

"What do you mean?" Choutarou asked, confused.

"Atobe-kun's the most stressed out of everyone on the team. In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't exploded yet from all the stress." Hyo said matter-of-factly.

"I...don't...I don't see it." Choutarou replied.

"He must have a way of relieving his stress..." Hyo carried on, "Maybe he relieves it by being mean!"

"Here you go, you two. Two tonkotsu ramen, one with nori and extra egg, one with all the toppings." the chef interrupted, placing their ramen in front of them. "Enjoy!"

Both Choutarou and Hyo were too hungry to talk so they finished their meal in silence.

After their meal, Choutarou continued to walk Hyo home. They stopped two blocks before Hyo's house.

"I'll be okay by myself from here. The houses starting from this neighborhood all have security cameras installed outside their gates so it's pretty safe." Hyo said.

"Are you sure, it's no trouble for me to walk you to your house." Chouratou replied.

"Yes, I'm sure." Hyo told Choutarou with a smile. "Thank you, for accompanying me this far."

"All right then. Here, give me your cellphone." Choutarou said as he took out his own.

Hyo handed Choutarou her cellphone. Choutarou took the phone and after a minute, handed it back to Hyo.

"Now you have my number and I have yours. Send me a message when you get home so I know you've arrived safely." he told Hyo.

"Okay, I will." Hyo said, pocketing her phone. "Thanks, again."

"See you tomorrow, Hyo-chan." Choutarou said, waving at Hyo.

"See you!" Hyo said, waving back.

Choutarou stood there for a while, watching Hyo's back as she walked off in the direction of her home. He sighed and gave a small smile before he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

* * *

**A/N: First and foremost, a big thank you to those of you who have reviewed since my last update, which was...nearly a year ago! Although there were not many, I am so touched that after so long, those of you who have put the story on their alerts list actually bothered to read my update! I was so sure that most of you would have forgotten this story existed!**

**I do have a lot to work on. I still need to sort of get back into the whole writing thing. I don't know how often I can update though, depends on how busy I am with my other commitments. I will try my best to not be a disappointment! Please continue to support me!**

**In case anyone didn't get the who Shishido calling Chiharu, Chisaru. The kanji for Chiharu's name is **千晴**. **千**(Chi) means 'thousand'. Haru and saru rhyme. Saru is Japanese for monkey so Shishido called Chiharu 'a thousand monkeys'.**

**Please review! -gets down on both knees- please, please, please! :p  
**

みんな！私を応援し続けてください！これからもよろしくお願いいたしま〜す！

**-Yuu.**


	14. Movement XIII : Caught

**A/N: A lot of AtobexHyo moments in the chappie! D:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PoT!...and I just realised I have do much more to disclaim than just the lovely Hyoutei members. Um, I don't own Steinway or Fazioli.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Caught.**

* * *

Hyo let out a huge sigh of relief after she finally found the courage to look at the results of the mock test for physics she recently took.

"Sixty-seven percent!" she exclaimed proudly as she waved her physics test paper in front of Yuushi during tuition before their tennis club activities.

For the past week, she had been sitting mock tests in all her classes. The scariest part was not sitting the test, but getting the results back. She surprised herself by getting sixty-nine percent in the mock test for math which she thought she failed. The sixty-seven percent she was waving around also came as a surprise.

"Sixty-seven percent!" Hyo said again, still waving her test paper in front of Yuushi.

"Yes, yes, good job." Yuushi said with a small smile. He tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Sure enough, for Hyo, the results she's obtained in these mock exams were a huge improvement to the tragic results she had been getting the last two years. They could get her into university, probably one that no one has ever heard of with a yearly enrollment rate of five people and less, but if Hyo was aiming for one of Hyoutei's affiliated universities, she would have to pull all her grades up to an eighty-five percent average at the very least.

"All right, we'll have to make some changes to our session plans. Seeing as your best result was English at ninety-three percent, we're going to cut down on English sessions during the week and use the time for your lowest scoring subjects, physics and math. They were sixty-seven and sixty-nine percent respectively." Yuushi told Hyo informatively.

Yuushi then continued to tell Hyo about needing to pull her grades up to an eighty-five percent average.

"So basically, you're telling me that this is where the _real_ work starts?" Hyo asked Yuushi.

"Pretty much." Yuushi replied. "You can do this. Just look how far you've come in the last couple of months."

"I can do this." Hyo said trying to assure herself.

"Apart from after school tutoring sessions, I think we should also spare time every second weekend and dedicate those sessions to English. Are you willing to give up more time for tutoring?" Yuushi asked.

"Yes, I am!" Hyo replied immediately.

"You're really serious about this getting your grades up thing aren't you?" Yuushi said, peering at Hyo observantly through his fake glasses.

Hyo looked down at her feet and gripped onto the physics test script.

"I really don't want to disappoint anyone. I don't want to disappoint my parents and I as my tutor, I don't want to disappoint you either." Hyo said quietly.

_'Moreover, if I can't show my parents I can improve my grades, they might never let me touch a piano or any sort of music ever again.'_

"Great. Be prepared for some serious hard work as of now." Yuushi replied. "So, for the weekends, would you rather it be at my house or yours?"

"Hmm, I'll go to your house. Since I'm already troubling you with tuition I don't want to trouble you with traveling around too." Hyo told Yuushi.

"Okay, I'll message you my address later. Let's get to the tennis courts, shall we."

* * *

Hyo woke up surprisingly early for a Sunday, after a few tosses and turns in her bed, she remembered why. Today was her first Sunday tuition session at Yuushi's house. She sat up giving a yawn and stretched out her arms. After a few seconds, she fell back on her bed.

"Come on Hyo, you have to get up." she commanded herself. "Even though it's only seven-thirty in the morning...on a Sunday."

She sat up again and this time she rubbed her eyes, stood up and headed straight for her bathroom where she started to brush her teeth, still half asleep. After washing her face, she was finally fully awake.

Arriving back in her room, she opened the curtains and windows and stood, bathing her face in the gentle sunlight. It was going to be another warm spring's day. She put on her glasses which she had grabbed off her desk and checking that she was still good for time, she took her time and slowly changed out of her pajamas and into a pink and white color-schemed floral dress her mother had recently put in her wardrobe.

Soon after, a knock came at her door and someone informed her that breakfast was ready.

"Be right there!" Hyo answered while she put all her English notebooks, textbooks and readings into her school bag. She zipped up her bag then proceeded downstairs for breakfast.

It was a Western breakfast so Hyo decided to eat outside, where she could admire the flowers in the garden while she sipped her tea.

"Hyo-sama," Honjo, the Morita household's head butler had come out onto the porch to attend to Hyo. "Is there anything else you would like?"

"Breakfast is delicious, the tea is just how I like it. Everything is good!" Hyo replied.

"Glad to hear. Excuse me as I take my leave." Honjo answered and started to walk back into the house.

"Oh, wait, Grandpa Honjo!" Hyo called after him as she suddenly remembered something.

"Yes, Hyo-sama?" Honjo replied.

"Could you please tell Nishino-jisan to prepare a car? I'm planning to leave the house around eight-thirty." Hyo said.

"I will do that straight away." Honjo replied.

"Don't forget to specify that I just want a car, not a limo!" Hyo called after the head butler.

* * *

By the time she finished eating her breakfast, it was already time to go.

"Why did I eat so slowly!" she cried to herself as she ran upstairs to get her bag. On her way back downstairs, she ran past her mother who had just got out of bed.

"Morning mother, bye mother!" Hyo said waving back at her mother.

"Bye dear," her mother called after her. "And I thought I gave you a matching bag with the dress, why are you using your school bag, of all things!"

"No time!" was Hyo's only reply.

She ran out the front doors which were already opened for her and Nishino, their household chauffeur was waiting in the driveway with a car.

Nishino opened the passenger door for Hyo and she slid inside. When Nishino got into the driver's seat, he asked Hyo for the address of where they were going.

"Hold on, I'll just check." Hyo said as she fished out her phone from her bag. She flipped open her phone and found two unchecked message from the night before sent by Yuushi.

_Oshitari Yuushi 11:56PM  
_**Hey Hyo-chan, my relatives from Osaka surprised us with a visit. It's unfortunate and I know it's very late notice but I won't be able to attend to our session. But, I've organized someone to take over the job for me tomorrow. I guarantee that he'll do a good job, probably even better than me. He is a huge reader of Shakespeare. I'll send you his address in my next message.**

"Are you serious?" Hyo said to her phone. She then proceeded and opened the second message with the address and showed it to Nishino.

"We will be able to arrive there in about ten to fifteen minutes." Nishino said to Hyo after he saw the address.

* * *

Sure enough, after fifteen minutes, they had arrived at the front gate of a large estate. Even driving up the driveway to the mansion seemed like a journey in itself. Hyo got out of the car and marveled at the beautiful and intricately carved water fountain on the front lawn before walking to the giant wooden front doors of the beige mansion. The butlers stationed outside opened the door for her and Hyo stepped inside the most spacious and elegant mansion she had ever seen. Hyo called the place she lived in a house, even though it was really more of a manor. She had always thought that her manor was already too big for a family of three people even to the point that it was a bit superfluous. But the place she was standing in now was truly worthy of the name of a mansion and was many, many times more expanse and glamourous than hers. She took her shoes off and put on a pair of slippers one of the stationed maids had put in front of her feet.

"We have been expecting your arrival." an elderly butler greeted with a bow. "Please follow me."

The butler gestured in the direction of the magnificent marble staircase and Hyo stepped toward it, and started walking up the stairs, one hand gliding along the railings.

_'Where the heck am I? Is this place even for real? Am I still in Japan or am I back in England?'_

"I will go and inform the young master of your arrival. I believe he will be with you shortly. Feel free to look around." the butler told Hyo when they had reached the top of the stairs. "The rooms with open doors are free for your browsing."

"Okay, thank you." Hyo replied.

She walked into the first room with an open door and her jaw dropped. Inside stood two of the most beautiful full size concert grand pianos Hyo had ever laid eyes on in her life. That was saying something about the owner of these pianos since Hyo had performed on plenty of concert grands and none of them had such amazing aesthetics.

One was white and the other was black. She rush forward to get a closer look. The white one was a Steinway with intricate golden marquetry along the sides and a delicately hand-carved music desk. The black was a Fazioli, it was covered in black lacquer which gave it a very intense shine and gloss.

"From two of the best grand piano makers in the world." she breathed.

It had been too long since she had last played the piano and seeing the two beauties in front of her made her fingers itch. She lifted a finger gingerly and placed it on a key of the white Steinway and relaxed her hand muscles while lifting up her wrist. The room resounded with a bright and crisp sound.

"The Steinway was my mother's." A voice suddenly rung out from the doorway. Hyo jumped then spun her head to face the door and saw Atobe leaning on the door frame.

"A-Atobe-kun? What are you doing here?" Hyo asked, shocked with a finger pointing at Atobe.

"It's rude to point, Hyo-chan." Atobe replied as he walked toward Hyo. "What am I doing here, you ask. Well, this is my home."

"You?" Hyo asked, still shocked. "Wait, _you're _the one that Yuushi-kun...?"

Hyo's stomach twisted in a knot. Out of all the tennis regulars, Atobe was the one she liked the least and had the lowest tolerance for. She was sure Yuushi was aware of it and for someone as smart as Yuushi, it was a pretty dumb idea to get Atobe of all people to tutor her. She started questioning if Yuushi was serious about helping her pass her exams or if the whole thing was just his idea of entertainment.

"There's no need to be so shocked." Atobe replied. He was now standing beside the white Steinway, in front of Hyo who was now frowning at him.

"You want to play?" Atobe asked Hyo nodding his head at the piano.

"How do you know if I even know how to play?" Hyo replied defensively, cocking her head to the side.

"I was watching you just then. The way you played that one note, your hand and wrist movements gave it away." Atobe replied with a smirk.

Hyo's expression changed into shock, she quickly bit her bottom lip to hide her surprise and hid her arms behind her back, looking down at her feet.

"So, do you want to play?" Atobe asked again.

"I-is it okay if I do?" Hyo replied, lifting up her head to look at Atobe who nodded in reply.

Hyo's face relaxed and broke into a smile. She sat down on the piano stool and started to play a piece that she had composed. At once, she felt whole again and let out a sigh. Atobe stood there watching her for a while. Normally she's clumsy and oblivious, just a minute ago, she was frowning at him, the next second she was shy and timid, but now the girl in front of him was graceful and fluid. Feeling bemused but not letting it show on his face, Atobe then walked to the Fazioli and sat down. Soon after, Hyo heard the sound of another piano. She looked up from the black and white keys of the piano, her fingers still darting across them and focused her vision on Atobe.

_'He's improvising a harmony to my piece.'_

A smile spread across her face as she continued playing.

Atobe looked across the two bodies of the pianos and his eyes met with Hyo's. Atobe was taken aback by surprise. He had never seen Hyo smile so genuinely and warmly before about anything or at anybody. He made a mental note to find out why but stopped himself mid-thought. At that moment, his finger slipped on a black key. His eyes slightly widened then narrowed. It was unsual for his fingers to slip, even if he was improvising.

_Why am I even taking an interest?'_ He thought to himself with his eyes still on Hyo. He saw her nod her head at him, smile still plastered on her face, encouraging him to continue playing his improvisation and to ignore his previous slip up.

As Hyo's composition drew close to the end, she slowed down and transitioned into another one of her compositions without pausing. She maintained eye contact with Atobe and there was a mischievous gleam in her eye.

_'See if you can keep up with this one.'_ Hyo thought as she increased the tempo. Much to her surprise, Atobe had no problem keeping up with the fast tempo of the piece or the multiple key changes. Hyo finished the piece and lifted her hands from the piano keys. Hyo and Atobe sat quietly still, bathing in the resonance of the last note. Then Hyo stood up and walked over to Atobe.

"Let me have a go on the Fazioli." She said while tapping Atobe on the shoulder.

"If you must." Atobe replied as he stood up from the piano stool.

"Let's continue! You go on the Steinway!" Hyo said enthusiastically.

Atobe gave her a questioning look.

"Go, go, go!" Hyo continued, urging Atobe on by pushing him on the small of his back.

"Okay, okay." Atobe said, his eye twitched as he started moving toward the other piano.

"This time, you play a piece...and I'll try to improvise something, okay?" Hyo said Atobe happily.

Atobe sighed and gave a small nod as a reply.

They played piece after piece, until Atobe's butler knocked on the door and announced that lunch was ready.

"Well, would you look at the time, it's lunchtime already and we haven't even started on your English studies." Atobe said as he stood up.

"Oh!" Hyo exclaimed as she snapped back into reality then gave a weak smile. "Time flies when you're having fun."

Atobe was now halfway to the door, he turned around and saw that Hyo had not moved from the piano.

"Are you just going to sit there and starve or come and eat lunch?" he asked flicking a strand of hair out of his eye then continued walking toward the door.

"Coming." Hyo said, she jumped up from the piano stool and skipped after Atobe.

Hyo caught up with Atobe and they walked side by side down the hallway. Atobe turned his head to Hyo as they started their way down the polished marble stairs.

"So which do you prefer? The Steinway or Fazioli?" Atobe asked.

"Hm," Hyo said thoughtfully putting a finger on her chin. "As you know, both of them are from outstanding piano makers."

"Of course." Atobe commented.

"But," Hyo carried on, "I would have to say I prefer the Steinway. I felt that the weight of the Steinway's keys were just right and I liked the tone of the Steinway better than the Fazioli as well, especially the higher notes!"

"I see." was Atobe's only reply.

"But, that's just my opinion." Hyo replied peering up at Atobe.

They walked down the last few steps in silence.

"So, how come you have _two_ grands?" Hyo asked, breaking the silence. "You said that the Steinway was your mother's?"

"Yes, and the Fazioli was my father's. When they got married, neither of them wanted to sell their piano. It makes sense though since both pianos were custom made, so they're one of a kind." Atobe replied. "Not that keeping them was any trouble, since you can see that our manor has more than enough room to keep them."

"Wow, they must have been really passionate about the piano if they got them custom made." Hyo said.

"Hn," Atobe let out what sounded like snort, smirked and glanced down at Hyo. "They weren't really. Just that both sides had too much money to spend so if they were going to own a piano, might has well spend money to purchase one that even the best pianists in the world would be jealous of."

"Oh," Hyo said, then added quietly, "So superfluousness runs in the family."

"Pardon me, what did you say? I didn't catch it." Atobe replied.

"No-nothing!" Hyo said and laughed nervously while glancing up at Atobe.

They reached the dining room of the Atobe manor and sat down opposite each other on either side of the finely polished maple dining table.

"That was quite some skill you showed back there, you must practice often?" Atobe said, continuing to make conversation as the maids and butlers started serving lunch.

Hyo bit the inside of her cheeks. She could not make up some lame excuse about not being interested in music or change the topic like she always did whenever anyone brought it up because this time it was different, she had already revealed to Atobe her competency in piano. There was no use hiding it.

"I did." Hyo said. She saw Atobe's confused look then explained, "I don't have a piano anymore, Mother sold it."

"Oh, I see." Atobe replied. He saw a hint of sadness in Hyo's eyes and decided not to probe into the matter, being the sensitive person that he is.

"You play really well too." Hyo said, changing the focus back onto Atobe. "Do you practice often?"

Atobe smirked and took a sip of non-alcoholic champagne from the wine glass he was now holding.

"I had lessons up until junior high school. I practiced a fair amount back then but now, tennis is my main focus and passion so I spend more time on the courts. I have a little play around with the keys once every so often, when I feel like it." he replied.

"Well, you're lucky to have two pianos to play on when you want to." Hyo replied with a smile. Seeing that Atobe had picked up his knife and fork and was about to carve into his meal, Hyo did the same.

Throughout lunch, they talked about which composers' music they liked to listen to and Hyo found out that one of Atobe's habits included putting on the German composer, Richard Wagner's music first thing in the morning, everyday.

"Really?" Hyo asked, a bit too soon after swallowing as she felt a bit of food go into her windpipe. She covered her mouth with a napkin and started coughing. One of the maids immediately attended to by gently patting her back. Hyo took the glass of water which was being held out to her and took a large gulp.

Atobe watched through the whole process with a furrowed brows. Usually, he would have thought it as a distasteful sight, but for some reason, he had found that for Hyo, the act of choking was rather charming. He started to think there was something wrong with him. First the piano incident, now this!

"Sorry about that." Hyo said, then cleared her throat and took another sip of water. "I quite appreciate Wagner myself. I mean, some of his works were influenced by Beethoven, and Mozart made an impression on him too. Beethoven and Mozart were two of the best musicians in all of history, right? They're not overly famous for nothing! I commend your impeccable taste in morning music!"

Now that she had stopped talking and was giving him the biggest smile he had ever seen her give to anyone and it was the longest that he had seen her dimple appear, Atobe realised that he was staring. Upon this, he quickly looked away from Hyo's face and occupied himself with the remainder of food on his plate.

Their conversation over lunch continued and the topic had changed from music to tennis, which Hyo did not fully understand, but listened to nonetheless, giving the odd nod here and there.

Once they had finished lunch, and Gelée Royale, Atobe's must-have dessert after every lunch was being served, Atobe cleared his throat and announced that after dessert, they would have to start on Hyo's English tuition.

"...after all, it's what we should have been doing as soon as you got here."

Hyo sighed loudly and slouched her shoulders.

"You did bring your books and everything, right?" Atobe asked.

"Yes, they're in my bag which I left..." Hyo trailed off when she saw Atobe raise his left hand. He snapped his fingers and an old butler appeared holding Hyo's school bag.

"Ah! Thank you!" Hyo said as she stood up just as the butler reached her seat and handed her the school bag.

"Thank you, Michael." Atobe said to the butler.

They finished off their dessert and Atobe got up from his seat and started for the door.

"Come with me." He told Hyo and she hastily stood up to follow Atobe but upon taking a second step, her foot got caught in a leg of the chair. At the sound of the falling chair, Atobe turned around just in time to catch Hyo by the arm and stop her from falling.

Once Hyo was standing straight again, Atobe let go of her arm. Hyo adjusted her glasses and Atobe saw that there were tears in her eyes.

"Oi, oi, don't cry." Atobe said, not sure what to do.

"I'm not crying, I'm holding in pain. I...I stubbed my toe!" Hyo exclaimed as she crouched down then shot up and hobbled on one foot.

Atobe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Good to know that your clumsiness doesn't just cause others pain but affects you as well." he said as he recollected getting hit by the tennis racquet that had slipped out of her hand.

"I've recovered now." Hyo said when she stopped hobbling. "Let's go?"

Without replying, Atobe turned his back and started walking. He lead her to the library on the first floor.

"Let's get started, take out your books." Atobe commanded. "What do you want to work on first?"

Hyo took out her books and thought for a while.

"Ah! Yuushi said that the person taking over his job today was a big reader of Shakespeare." Hyo said, "Don't tell me that...you're..."

"Why do you make it sound like it's hard to believe?" Atobe asked, "For someone as well-educated and refined as Ore-sama, it's a given!"

_'Ego-sama is back_.' Hyo thought to herself as she cringed inwardly.

"Okay, then, let's start on my Shakespeare text?" Hyo suggested passing the book to Atobe.

"Ah, '_Much Ado About Nothing_', not one of my favorites." Atobe said, when he took the book from Hyo.

"Are you serious? It's one of the most entertaining Shakespeare plays I've read." Hyo argued, "The humor and wit in it is amazing."

"Especially between Benedick and Beatrice?" Atobe asked.

"Yes! My goodness, their dialogues are the best!" Hyo replied enthusiastically.

Atobe smirked inwardly to himself, looks like he had said the right things to get Hyo fired up. He continued listening to Hyo ramble on about which scenes and characters she liked the best. When she finally stopped, Atobe brought up the topic of essay questions and they continued to discuss possible questions that might come up in the exam.

"Okay, take the first question on the second page and try writing an essay for it." Atobe said, handing Hyo an exam study booklet he had taken from a pile of her books.

Hyo obeyed and got down to work straight away. Atobe sat on the edge of the table Hyo was working on and started re-reading the Shakespeare play. Every now and then Atobe would glance down at Hyo's paper to see how she was doing and was surprised to find that after fifteen minutes, she had nearly written a page.

"You have lovely English handwriting." Atobe said before he could stop himself. There really was something wrong with him today, even without the previous two incidents, complimenting Morita Hyo was not something he could ever see himself do, yet he had managed to do it.

"Thank you. I used to live in England but moved back when I was five. I have cousins there whom I write letters to and talk to on the phone though. Parents said it would help keep my English writing and speaking." Hyo replied, not looking up and still writing.

"I see. My expectations for your essay have now been raised." Atobe replied.

"I'll give you my very best effort." Hyo said, still writing away.

_That's strange_, he thought to himself. _According to Yuushi, she gets distracted all the time during their tuition sessions, especially when it comes to essay writing when they're not talking and it's quiet. She seems to be very focused though, not the least bit distracted. _

Then he suddenly clicked.

"Oi, Yuushi say's you're always distracted by something during tuition with him, and he can't figure out what it is." Atobe suddenly piped up. "It's music, isn't it?"

"Eh?" Hyo's head shot up from her essay at stared at Atobe, wide-eyed.

Atobe smirked. "I've caught you, haven't I?"

"What are you- I- ahahaha." she spluttered and laughed nervously. Then she nodded, "Yeah, I guess you've caught me. How did you know?"

"Seeing as how genuinely happy you were playing the piano told me a lot. Even though I only see you under school circumstances, unlike you, I actually have powers of observation and I don't think you need me to tell you that you're not interested in a lot of things." Atobe reasoned, "Am I right? So, taking a guess, it would have to be music."

"I do take interest in other things! I'm into Shakespeare, you can testify to that!" Hyo argued.

"You can't be distracted by something you're in the middle of doing. Being distracted by Shakespeare's plays while writing an essay for it? Really?" Atobe retorted.

"Well- It's- Well- That's-" Hyo struggled for a while to find a rebuttal, "What if I was distracted by a _different_ play of his?"

Atobe gave her a 'yeah, really, are you serious?' look and Hyo gave up.

"Okay, fine."

"You should have given up the moment you admitted to being caught." Atobe said with a sly smile. "So, does your bad grades have anything to do with your mother selling off your piano?"

Hyo propped her chin on the palm of her left hand and looked up at Atobe then glanced down and started fiddling with the pen she was holding in her right hand.

"Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head again. It's just, at the most crucial times like when I need to study for an upcoming test, I get these great inspirations for new compositions. I would sit for hours on end in front of my piano and forget all about study." Hyo started, "My parents are busy people and aren't home much so they're not there to send me to my room and study and Nanny Kasumi, who is like, your Michael, is old and she's too soft when it actually comes to telling me off so I don't listen to her. My grades gradually went downhill until one day when my parents saw my academic transcript, it was just the last straw. So they decided to sell my piano."

Hyo glanced back at Atobe through her glasses with downcast eyes and stopped fidgeting with her pen.

"In addition to that, my mother has also put up a music ban. I had to quit the music club at school and I'm not allowed anywhere near a piano. Which leads me here, being tutored, supposedly by Yuushi-kun but instead it's you." Hyo finished.

"I can't believe I let you break your mother's rules by allowing you to play on my pianos." Atobe said gently shaking his head.

Hyo chose to ignore Atobe's comment and now with a little life back in her eyes she said, "If my marks in the July end of term test are satisfactory enough, for my parents' standards, then I'll be able to get a new piano!"

"I see. So that's what you're studying for, a new piano. But your mother didn't say anything about lifting the ban?" Atobe replied.

"It comes with the piano, it's a package. What's the use of having a piano in the house if no one's going to play it?" Hyo said matter-of-factly.

"All right, all right, you've got a point." Atobe replied.

Hyo did a little victory dance inside her mind, finally she had won a debate with Atobe.

"Right, I'm going to get back to writing my essay now." Hyo said, picking up her pen and continued to write.

When Hyo finished writing her essay, she handed it to Atobe.

"I'll read and mark it later and give it back to you another day. We have to move on and cover other aspects of your English course." Atobe said.

* * *

They moved on to discuss the other texts that Hyo was studying in English class and soon it was nearing dinner time. Michael came in and announced that Hyo's car had arrived and was now parked outside the front doors of the mansion.

"That's all for today then." Atobe announced.

Hyo gathered her belongings and started neatly putting them into her bag. Once she was all packed up, Atobe accompanied Hyo on her way to the front door.

"Don't forget to mark my essays," Hyo reminded, "And most importantly, don't lose them!"

"I won't." Atobe replied in reassurance.

They had now reached the front doors which the butlers had already opened. Hyo took off the slippers she was wearing and slipped her feet into her shoes which the maids had put in front of her.

Before taking any steps out of the front door, Hyo turned around to face Atobe.

"One last thing before I leave." Hyo started to say, "About me and music, everything I've said regarding it, please don't mention it to anyone, not even Yuushi-kun."

"Even the fact that music is what distracts you during your tuition sessions with him?" Atobe asked.

"Even that." Hyo said.

She stared hard into Atobe's eyes, Atobe saw that it was a look of plea. He rested and elegant hand on his forehead and sighed.

"Okay." He finally said.

"Thanks." Hyo said with a smile and stepped out the front doors of Atobe Manor.

When she reached the first step down, she paused and turned around to Atobe once again.

"Thank you again, for today. To be honest when you walked through the door and I found out you were the one who was going to tutor me today I thought it would be horrible. But surprisingly, I actually enjoyed myself more than usual." Hyo said, giving Atobe a warm smile, her cheek dimpling. "See you at school."

Hyo waved goodbye and proceeded down the steps where Nishino the chauffeur was holding the car door open for her. Atobe stood in the doorway and watched as Hyo's car drove down the driveway of his manor and pass by his parents' limousine which was driving up the driveway toward the mansion.

* * *

In the car, Hyo was checking the messages on her cell phone, Chiharu had called her several times and sent her numerous messages, all of which were asking Hyo of her whereabouts and what she was doing. Hyo was in the middle of typing a reply message when she got an incoming call. She pushed the answer button and before she could even say hello, Chiharu's voice boomed from the headpiece.

"Where have you been all day? I've been trying to get hold of you the entire day! I was starting to think you had been kidnapped or something! You never ignore my calls or messages, not for this long, anyway!"

"Ahh, sorry Chiharu! I figured I should turn my phone on silent while having tuition." Hyo replied.

"O-oh." Chiharu said, all of a sudden sounding so much calmer. "My bad, I forgot you had that. How was it?"

"It's okay. Um, well, Yuushi-kun's relatives from Osaka suddenly visited and he had to entertain them so couldn't do it." Hyo said.

"Uh huh, so how does that work?" Chiharu replied, sounding confused.

"He got Atobe-kun to do it." Hyo answered.

Chiharu started cracking up on the other end of the line.

"Oh man, out of everyone there was, he chose Atobe-kun? He knows that Atobe-kun loves to torture you, what's Yuushi-kun trying to do, torture you into getting good grades?" Chiharu said through laughs.

"That's exactly what I thought when I found out!" Hyo replied, "But it was actually fun today."

"Eh?"

With that tone, Hyo could almost see Chiharu with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you okay? Because last time I checked, you never have fun when Atobe-kun is around." Chiharu continued, "Is he next to you, holding you at gunpoint, forcing you to read from a teleprompter or something?"

Hyo giggled and shook her head, even though Chiharu wouldn't be able to see.

"No, I'm in my car and speaking at my own freewill."

"Then did he hypnotise you?"

"What? No, at least I don't think so. Anyway, why were you trying to get hold of me the whole day?" Hyo asked.

"Well, that's something I have to tell you in person so looks like it'll have to wait until tomorrow." Chiharu replied.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow then." Hyo said.

"See you." Chiharu said and hung up.

Hyo closed her phone and thought over the conversation she just had with Chiharu. She understood why Chiharu would be surprised but it was true that she enjoyed herself today even though it was a whole day with Atobe. She enjoyed their conversations and if she wasn't mistaken, he had even complimented her English handwriting.

Then she thought back to just before she got into the car, before she waved goodbye to Atobe.

"Geh! I actually told him I enjoyed myself?" She exclaimed, causing Nishino the chauffer to glance at Hyo nervously through the rear view mirror. "Maybe there is something wrong with me."

* * *

"Who was that just leaving, Keigo dear?" Atobe's mother asked when she was greeted at the door by her son.

"Just a school mate that Yuushi tutors. He was busy so asked me to fill in." Atobe replied. "And no, I don't like her."

"We never even asked, dear." Atobe's mother replied.

"Oh, a girl eh, so it was some sort of date huh?" Atobe's father piped up.

"Oooh, a date, my, my, Keigo darling, aren't you glad that I decided to go golfing with your father and the company shareholders. You had the house all to yourself!" Atobe's mother said, all sparkly eyed.

"I told you, I don't like her. How does tutoring someone become a date anyway?" Atobe asked, following his parents who were now climbing up the marble staircase.

"A study date!" His father replied.

Atobe shook his head, "No, it just doesn't make sense. I am not sure we have the same idea about what a date is, father and mother. Besides, I don't like her."

"Yes, you've repeated that several times now. You don't have to be so shy in front of your own parents! Honestly!" Atobe's mother said.

Atobe sighed and decided to stop drop the matter, his parents can think whatever they want, it didn't matter. Suddenly, his mind replayed the few seconds before Hyo waved goodbye to him and froze.

"Isn't that...what girls usually say...after a date?" he slowly said to himself. "No, no way. Impossible. That girl is way too dense to know anything! Plus, I don't like her, so there's nothing to know!"

"Why do I keep saying that? It's not like I need to constantly remind myself that I, don't, like, her!" Atobe said, he was now subconsciously walking up and down the staircase.

"I bet Yuushi set me up!" he concluded and halted on the staircase and decided to walk to his room.

* * *

At morning practice the following day, Yuushi asked Atobe how the tuition session went.

"Purposely setting me up, arn?" Atobe said as calmly as he could.

"Setting you up? What?" Yuushi replied, genuinely confused.

"Did you purposely make it so that it was me who would have to be stuck with her," he said, gesturing at Hyo who was picking up tennis balls on the adjacent court, "all day?"

"No, no, no, relatives from Osaka really did come. Look, I'll show you pictures I took with Kenya yesterday." Yuushi said and he flipped open his phone and opened up a file of the previous day's pictures.

Atobe looked through the photos and inspected the date on them carefully.

"See, I wasn't lying." Yuushi said. "Was it really that bad yesterday?"

"Not bad, but- You know what, forget it." Atobe said and chucked a couple of tennis balls to Yuushi. "Let's start our match."

"That's okay, you don't have to answer the question. I already asked Hyo-chan how it was. She said it was unexpectedly enjoyable." Yuushi said with a smirk. "You must have done something right. Maybe I should give you my position as Hyo-chan's tutor?"

"Don't be ridiculous. One day with her was enough." Atobe said scornfully.

"You'll have to be honest with yourself sooner or later." Yuushi told Atobe, patting him twice on the left side of his chest before walking onto the tennis court. "You've already been caught."

* * *

**Ah~ I hope I haven't made Atobe too OOC. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please R&R! (:**

**Yuu.**


	15. Movement XIV : If You Listen Closely

**A/N: Why is it always during the holidays that I seem to have less time for writing? I'm so sorry about updating a whole month later! I really meant to update sooner but I just couldn't find any inspiration to complete this chapter until now.**

**Sorry for the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: If You Listen Closely.**

* * *

"Hyo-chan, throw me some tennis balls." Atobe called across the courts.

Hyo rushed and grabbed two tennis balls then promptly delivered them into Atobe's hands. She gave him a smile in which Atobe responded with a twitch on the corners of his lips.

Not long after, Atobe yet again called for Hyo.

"Pass me my drink bottle." he said.

"Coming!" Hyo replied, taking Atobe's drink bottle from the bench and thinking that she might as well pass him his towel as well, she took that from the bench also.

When Hyo reached Atobe and extended her arms, one hand holding his drink bottle and the other hand holding his towel, Atobe stared momentarily at the two items before taking them from Hyo.

He gave a nod, acknowledging Hyo's actions.

On the other side of the courts, resting on the spectator benches, sat Shishido looking bored and Chiharu who had been eyeing Hyo the whole time.

"Hey, don't you think they're acting different around each other?" Chiharu asked, nudging Shishido's shoulder with hers.

"No." Shishido replied apathetically.

"Ah, so I'm not the only one who has noticed." Yuushi piped up. He was on his way to get his drink bottle and had overheard.

Chiharu spun her head in Yuushi's direction, her orange-brown ponytail hitting the side of her face and narrowed her eyes.

"Well, you're partly to blame." Chiharu replied. "If you hadn't bailed on that tuition–"

"I had relatives visiting," Yuushi said cutting Chiharu off.

"Yeah, but," Chiharu sighed and threw her arms in the air. "It's like they spent one day together and suddenly they've become best friends!"

"That hardly looks like best friends to me." Shishido commented, finally contributing to the conversation but still sounding apathetic. "It's more like, some awkward, weird, atmosphere thing they've got going on."

"All I know is, they both enjoyed themselves during the tuition session that day," Yuushi told them, "and neither of them will disclose any more than that."

"You don't think..." Shishido trailed off and his eyes wandered and met with Chiharu. "Romantically..."

Chiharu rolled her eyes and gave him a look as if he was crazy.

"No. Well, obviously. If anything _did_ happen I think she would be freaking out about it to me." Chiharu said, then she slumped down in the benches a bit more, "Though on the other hand, if it was going to be anyone I doubt it would be Atobe-kun of all people. It doesn't help that she is seriously dense either. I mean, Shishido and I could be holding hands in front of her face and it still won't click to her that we're together."

"You still haven't told her yet?" Shishido asked, still looking bored with his arms folded across his chest.

"No," Chiharu said with a sigh, closing her green eyes. "I can't seem to find the right time to drop the bomb."

"Drop the bomb? I don't see why telling her you and Shishido are together is such a big deal." Yuushi remarked before heading back onto the court.

"Agree with Yuushi." Shishido said, looking at Chiharu through the corner of his eyes.

"You don't understand," Chiharu started.

"You're right," Shishido interrupted, turning to face Chiharu, "I don't understand." he finished before taking his tennis racquet which was resting beside him on the bench and stood up to make his way down the court.

Chiharu let out an exasperated sigh and stood up also but walked in the opposite direction, heading out of the tennis court.

* * *

"Gather around everyone," Atobe called out to the regulars at the end of tennis practice that afternoon. "As you are all aware, the Tokyo prefectural tournament has started and without sending our regular players, we have already won the first round against Echiminanikawa High with a score of 5-0. Hyoutei's next opponent will be Tatsumotodai Higashi. Likewise, we will not be using regulars during that match, so, during the weekend of that match, you are all coming to my holiday house in Karuizawa for some training."

"So, like, a training camp?" Gakuto asked.

"Yes," replied Atobe, then he turned to Hyo and added, "You're to come as well."

"Eh?" Hyo replied and pointed a finger at herself. "But...but mid-terms are straight after that weekend!"

"Bring your notes and I'll tutor you when I'm free. I'm sure Atobe won't mind." Yuushi suggested to Hyo then looked at Atobe for any objections.

"Do as you please." Atobe said with a shrug. "We will be leaving Friday evening after club activities and leaving Karuizawa on the Sunday afternoon. Meeting over, everyone is dismissed."

"Hey, hold on!" Hyo said, calling after Atobe who was already heading to the clubroom. She called out again when he didn't stop. "Wait up!"

"What?" Atobe answered when Hyo had caught up to him.

"You guys have a reason to be excused from Saturday classes, but I don't." Hyo told Atobe as she walked beside him.

"So?" Atobe replied

_'Every time I start to think he's actually kind of nice, he goes ahead and proves me wrong.'_

"So, don't you see a problem here?" Hyo asked.

They had reached the tennis clubroom and they both came to a stop. Atobe turned to face Hyo.

"I'll send a car to pick you up straight after school ends on Saturday. Have all your things with you and be ready to go. Are you good with the arrangement?" he told her.

"O-okay." Hyo replied. "That sounds fine." she answered after Atobe as he walked into the clubroom.

As Hyo turned to leave and on her way back to the tennis courts, Choutarou was just heading to the clubroom.

"Hyo-chan, wait for me outside the clubroom and we'll walk home together." Choutarou said happily, smiling down at Hyo.

"Oh, sure." Hyo replied, "Meet you there soon, I just need to tidy up the rest of the tennis balls on the court."

* * *

That night at home, when Hyo had finished looking over her chemistry notes, she decided to sort all the English essays she had written since the start of the year in chronological order. She slid the pages of her first essay into the first pocket of the clear file and kept doing so until she got to the most recent one she had written, which was the previous day.

The essay was halfway inside the clear file pocket when Hyo paused. She remembered that Atobe still hadn't given back her essays from that Sunday. Hyo sighed and looked at the clock on her desk, it read 7:58PM. Hyo waited until it was 8 o'clock sharp and dialed Atobe's number. She anticipated Atobe to answer the phone after the third ring.

Ring, ring, pause.

'_One,'_

Ring, ring, pause.

'_Two,'_

Ring, ring, pause.

'_Three_–_'_

"What is it?" Atobe's voice came from the other end of the line.

Hyo didn't know why but she couldn't help but smile.

"When are you going to give back my essays?" Hyo said trying to sound as annoyed as possible.

"Ah, yes. You've been pestering me about them for the past who-knows-how-many days." Atobe replied.

"Well, if only you had remembered to give them back to me after the first time I called you, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Hyo told him.

"That would indeed be true– Beat, do not jump up onto ore-sama's desk!" Atobe said, followed by a few soft _clunks_.

"Beat?" Hyo questioned.

"My dog." Atobe replied.

Hyo made a noise that was very close to a squeal.

"You have a dog? How come I didn't see Beat when I was at your house? What breed is he?" Hyo bombarded Atobe with more questions regarding his pet.

Atobe answered each of Hyo's questions in a curious tone.

"Why are you so interested in my pet?" it was Atobe's turn to ask questions now.

"Because, I've always wanted a pet, especially a dog but my mother wouldn't allow me." Hyo explained. "Ah, you're so lucky!"

Hyo continued to ramble on about the breeds of dogs she liked and which one she wanted most. The conversation topic was then changed several times and by the time Atobe and Hyo ended the phone call, an hour had passed.

The corners of Atobe's lips curled into a smile as he put his cell phone down on the right end of his desk. For the past few days, it had become the new spot for placing his phone as it was easily accessible. Every night at 8 o'clock sharp, he would expect a phone call and every time, he waited nine seconds before picking up.

The first thing Hyo would bring up was her English essays, but after a while, either himself or Hyo would get sidetracked and the conversation topic would change. Although the things they talked about were sometimes trivial and ridiculous, Atobe always found himself smiling and in a lighter mood after the call.

Atobe picked up a few sheets of paper with words written in neat cursive english handwriting and sorted them into a neat pile. In truth, he had looked over and marked them the night of the Sunday she had written them. He had set the essays aside and forgot about them until Hyo had called to remind him. But after the first call, he still failed to return the essays back to Hyo so she had kept calling.

Atobe looked at Hyo's essays which were now a neat pile on his desk and leaned back into his chair. Maybe it was not because he forgot to return Hyo's essays back to her, maybe it was because he didn't want to. Perhaps, he did not want the 8 o'clock phone calls to end.

* * *

Saturday classes ended and normally, Hyo would eat lunch with the regulars then follow them to the tennis courts where she carried out her "slave duties". But today, he regulars were all at Atobe's holiday house in Karuizawa for some intense, undisturbed training.

"Hm, Atobe-kun told me that a car would be waiting in front of the school gates straight after class. I better hurry." Hyo muttered to herself as she half walked, half jogged to the tennis clubroom.

Atobe had given her the clubroom keys so she had somewhere to put her overnight bag for Karuizawa while she was in class. Entering the clubroom, she located the over night bag she had packed and took out a change of clothes. As fast as she could, she changed out of her school uniform into a grey hoodie and matching sweatpants. Packing her school uniform away in her bag and making sure that she had everything she needed with her, she left the clubroom. After double checking that she had locked up, she started walking as as fast as she could whilst lugging the extra bag she had picked up.

When she reached the school gates, sure enough, a shiny black car with tinted windows was parked outside, the chauffeur stood beside the rear passenger door, waiting. When the chauffeur saw Hyo with her bags, he rushed over.

"Morita-sama?" he asked.

"Yes, I am." Hyo replied.

Hurriedly, he took both Hyo's school bag and overnight bag into his hands and told Hyo to follow him, escorting her to the car.

"Please," the chauffeur said as he opened the door for her.

"Thank you." Hyo replied as she slid into the car.

The chauffeur closed the car door then proceeded to put her luggage into the trunk of the car.

Hyo looked to her right and saw that there was a cube object, wrapped in a silky cloth which was tied at the top.

"Morita-sama, please help yourself. You must be hungry." the chauffeur told Hyo from the driver's seat when he saw her looking at it.

Hyo pointed to the cube object wrapped in cloth. "Could this possibly be...?"

The chauffeur nodded. "It is the lunch we have prepared for you as per Keigo-obocchama's orders."

She reached over and took the object in her hands and placed it on her lap. She untied the cloth to unravel a three-level bento box with a set of chopsticks placed on the top. She picked up the chopsticks and disassembled the box into each of it's three compartments and spread them out. Putting one on her lap, one on the empty seat beside her and holding the main compartment with rice in her hand. She breathed in the fragrant smell of cooked rice and saying a quick and quiet 'Itadakimasu', she began to eat.

"We must be on our way now." the chauffeur informed.

"Yeah, sure." Hyo said, looking up from the bento box, her mouth full of rice.

* * *

"We have arrived." The chauffeur informed Hyo.

They had been on the road just a little over an hour and the car had stopped in front of what looked like the foot of a hill.

Hyo exited the car and surveyed the forest of green in front of her. The chauffeur delivered her two pieces of luggage to her side and with a bow, told Hyo goodbye.

"Bye." Hyo replied and returned the bow with a curt nod of her head.

It wasn't until she had watched the chauffeur drive off in the shiny black car that she realized she had no idea whatsoever where to go from her current location.

"Wait! Come back!" Hyo called after the car even though she knew it was useless. "How do I– Where do I–?"

She plunged her hand into the pocket of her grey sweatpants and took out her phone. Pushing a few buttons, she put the phone up to her ear. The phone was answered almost immediately.

"I gather that you've arrived?" Atobe asked Hyo.

"Arrived at the foot of a hill." Hyo replied flatly.

"Good." came Atobe's reply, "Make your way straight up the hill from where you're standing and you will eventually see my holiday house."

"What?" Hyo exclaimed.

"It should take no longer than an hour's walk." Atobe replied. From his tone, Hyo could picture him vividly in her mind, smirking. "I didn't feed you that big lunch for nothing."

"I can't believe you!" Hyo said loudly into her phone.

"Remember, walk _straight _up."

She opened her mouth to speak again but the line went dead.

"Urgh," she let out a soft growl before slinging her school bag over one shoulder and her over night bag over the other and started making her way uphill.

* * *

Hyo wished that there was a path or at least some sort of indication of a path as she tread along the green grass. As she walked further up, the plantation started to thicken and after getting her bags caught in the bushes few times, tripping over once or twice, she learned that she had to maneuver herself tactfully through the thickets.

Not knowing how long she had been walking or how far up the hill she was exactly, Hyo started to worry as the position of the sun was making it harder to see. She put down her bags and sat on them. Using her sleeves, she wiped away sweat which was trickling from her forehead down the side of her face and then began massaging the ache in her legs. Deciding that she would get nowhere if she were to continue at the rate she was going, she thought it was time to ask for help.

After taking her phone out of her pocket, she noticed that her hand was shaking.

'_I have to stay calm.'_ she firmly asserted herself and took a few deep breaths.

Flipping open her phone, she scrolled down the contact list to the first person that came to mind–Atobe, and was about to push the call button until she stopped herself.

"No, if I call him, he'll just make fun of me and not help at all." she reasoned aloud to herself. "Who else can I call? Out of all the regulars, I only have Atobe-kun's, Choutarou-kun's and Yuushi-kun's phone numbers."

She continued scrolling through her contact list.

"Choutarou-kun, would he know...?"

Just as Hyo was about to try her luck calling Choutarou, she received an incoming call. When she saw the caller ID, she groaned, hesitantly pushed the answer button and put her phone up to her ear.

"Where are you?"

"Where do you think I am? I'm surrounded by trees and bushes, no matter how far up I walk, everything looks the same to me and I don't think I'm getting anywhere near your holiday house." Hyo didn't know what took over her, but as soon as she opened her mouth every last bit of calmness in her disappeared and gave way to panic. "And now, I can't even tell which direction is which! I'm lost!"

"Calm down. What do you mean you can't tell which direction is which, that's rubbish. You may be able to confuse right with left, but you can't get uphill and downhill mixed up. The slant of the ground is easy enough to tell, just don't panic." Atobe said, his voice that she often thought was annoying seemed strangely comforting. "Keep walking uphill. Are you walking now?"

"No." Hyo replied and then stood up, "But I'm going to start now."

"Can you work out which way is uphill?" Atobe asked.

"Yes." Hyo replied, now sounding much calmer. She slung her bags back over each shoulder and started walking.

"Good. Keep at it and I'll–"

"Hello?" Hyo said into her phone.

When she could hear nothing but silence, she talked into phone again, louder.

"Hello?" she shouted.

Taking the phone away from her ear, she saw that the screen of her phone had turned pitch black. Feeling the panic once more, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down then frantically punched a few buttons on her phone, hoping that it would light up. That hope was shattered when the phone refused to show any sign of life.

'_The battery must be dead.'_ She sighed loudly in disbelief and started chewing her lip in frustration. Of all the times she had plugged her phone into the charger without switching on the power socket, she just had to make the same stupid mistake the previous night. Now she was paying the price for her clumsiness.

"Just keep walking upwards like Atobe-kun said." she told herself. For some reason, she wished her phone had not run out of battery, then her call with Atobe wouldn't have been cut off. Without his physical presence, just having him on the phone, knowing that he was on the other end had made her much calmer and made her believe that there was the slightest possibility she could reach the top of the hill.

* * *

"I'm positive that, I cannot, walk another step." Hyo said, breathing heavily.

Letting her bags slip off her shoulders and onto the ground, Hyo also felt the ground slip underneath her feet and followed her bags to the ground. Peering through the trees at the dusking sky, Hyo could see the steadily setting sun.

'_I have to get myself to Atobe-kun's holiday house before it gets dark.'_

Gathering all the strength she could muster in her arms and legs, Hyo heaved herself up from the ground by pushing the palm of her hands and sole of her feet into the grassy ground. Once she was upright, she stared down at her bags and contemplated leaving them there. Although they weren't heavy, over time as she progressively became more tired and weaker, the bags felt as if they weighed a ton.

'_Don't give up, Hyo!'_ she told herself, _'Don't let them think you are weak!'_

She picked up her bags and slung them over her shoulder. Slowly, lifting her heavy laden legs one after another, she started to move forward.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks. She thought she had heard someone call her name.

'_Is it just my imagination?'_

She started walking again, picking up her pace then stopped again.

'_I'm pretty sure someone just called my name.'_

Standing there frozen still, she closed her eyes, steadied her breathing and concentrated on the sounds around her. For a few seconds, the only noise she could hear was the rustle of leaves in the wind, but then, faintly but surely, she heard her name being called.

"Hello?" she shouted, "I'm here!"

Returning to her motionless state, she listened again. This time, the voice was slightly clearer and it sounded closer too.

"I'm here!" she called again.

This time she heard the crisp sound of twigs breaking, footsteps.

"Morita!" a figure came through the shadows of the trees.

"A-Atobe..." Hyo said, a confused expression appeared on her face.

"I thought I told you to walk _straight_ up. Not that I'm surprised you deviated from the route as I kind of anticipated it." Atobe said, brushing a leaf off his shoulder.

"I was supposed to take that literally?" Hyo asked in disbelief.

"Of course." Atobe replied.

"How did you get here so fast? How did you find me?" Hyo asked.

"When I called you, I had already started coming downhill to look for you. I set off from the place you would have arrived if you had walked up in a _straight _line." Atobe explained.

Hyo's eyebrows bunched together as she frowned.

"How can you expect anyone to walk in a straight line? That's just asking for the impossible. Why isn't there a path or anything, _something_ to tell you where you're supposed to walk?" Hyo asked heatedly.

"We wouldn't want to give trespassers an easy way up, would we?" was Atobe's breezy reply, looking at the trees around him.

Hyo let out a small huff which made Atobe direct his attention to her.

"I'm here now, so there's no need to worry about getting lost. We should get going before the sun sets fully." he told her and held out his hand at her.

Hyo looked at his hand questioningly.

"You are obviously very tired," he stated, gesturing to Hyo's hair which was matted with sweat, her cheeks which were flushed with exhaustion. "I'll help you carry your bags to lift the burden."

"Oh." Hyo responded. The corners of her lips upturned slightly as she passed a bag to Atobe.

Atobe took the bag from Hyo and slung it around his shoulder. He then reached for the second bag Hyo was holding out to him but his arm halted at halfway.

"Your hand is bleeding."

Hyo withdrew her arm and looked at the palm of her right hand. "Ah, this must have happened one of the times I tripped over. I hadn't noticed at all."

Atobe took the bag out of Hyo's hand and said, "Still as clumsy as ever. We should clean the wound up."

"It's no big deal," Hyo replied ignoring his comment about her being clumsy as she was so used to it by now it didn't even bother her. She continued examining her hand. "It's probably just a scratch from a sharp branch or twig."

"Who knows what kind of micro-organisms are lurking in the dirt, waiting to infest your hand." Atobe said, smirking at her. He put her bags on the ground and crouched down beside them and looked up at Hyo. "I know you have a first aid kit somewhere in one of these bags."

"My school bag." Hyo told him with a sigh and also crouched down beside her bags.

Now that attention had been brought to the cut, she noticed that it stung a little. Being careful not to get blood on her school bag and it's contents, she unzipped it and very carefully, took out the first aid kit.

Without asking for Hyo's permission, Atobe reached inside Hyo's now open bag and fished out her drink bottle. He unscrewed the lid and told Hyo to hold out her cut hand. Hyo did as she was told and he poured some water over her cut.

Hyo dried her palm and the cut with a small piece of gauze she had taken out from the kit with her other hand.

"It's just a scratch so I don't think it'll need any antiseptic." Hyo mumbled as she picked up various sized bandages and put them next to her cut. "Ah, the scratch is quite long and there are no bandages that are the right size. I'll just leave it uncovered."

She looked up and saw that Atobe was giving her a pointed look, holding a roll of compression wrap he had taken out of her kit.

"That? No, don't be silly." Hyo told Atobe with a skeptic look, "That's for things like sprains. This is just a cut."

"It's better than nothing." Atobe said, "Besides, it'll soak up all that sweat your palm is producing which is bound to make the cut sting."

"Fine, I'll use it." Hyo said and took the roll from Atobe's hand. She unhooked the securing pin and attempted to wrap it around her hand but it kept slipping.

After watching Hyo fumble with the compression wrap, Atobe felt that it was only right to put both of them out of their miseries.

"You're taking forever." Atobe said as he took the roll away with one hand then grasped Hyo's wrist of the cut hand with his other and proceeded to wrap the compression wrap around her hand.

In a matter of seconds, he was up to the last inches of the roll and when that was done, he secured it by hooking the pin onto the wrap.

Hyo held up her hand, she couldn't close her fist as the long length of the wrap caused a very large bulk in the middle of her palm and restricted the movement of it. She felt like she was wearing a cast for a broken arm.

"This is ridiculous!" she said, laughing at her hand.

"Let's get going." Atobe told her as he packed away Hyo's first aid kit and picked up her bags.

They walked in silence, Atobe in the front, leading while Hyo followed, her legs struggling to keep up with Atobe's big strides.

"Try to keep up. The sun's setting fast." Atobe said, he stopped and waited for Hyo to catch up to him then started walking again.

Hyo started taking faster and longer strides to remain relatively close to Atobe.

"Sorry," she suddenly spoke up. "For all the trouble I've caused you."

Atobe cocked an eyebrow.

"For being...so useless." Hyo replied.

There was a long silence, only the sound of cracking twigs beneath their feet could be heard.

"You may be useless at some things, but it doesn't make you a useless person as a whole." Atobe finally replied.

As if he had eyes at the back of his head and saw Hyo's shocked expression he continued talking.

"Why the president of a club always sends the vice-president to student council meetings escapes me. What surprises me even more is that as the president of the student council, I did not find out until now."

Hyo chewed nervously on her bottom lip.

"I-" she started.

"But seeing as the president was always the one making the decisions...and the fact that she is no longer the president anymore, I will overlook the matter of failure of attendance to council meetings." Atobe continued, not letting Hyo speak. "It had been brought to my attention that the music club is not running as smoothly as it should–well, as it used to be since the presidential role change. Is it really okay for you to let the club you've put so much effort into running during your second year turn into chaos because of internal conflicts?"

Hyo thought of the time she was stopped in the hallway by an underclassman in the music club, Misa. She had told Hyo that the new president of the club (which was the former vice president) was horrible and wanted Hyo to re-join the club. Had this been what she was talking about?

"I don't want that to happen, definitely not." Hyo replied after a long pause. "But to re-join the music club right now is not possible and you know that."

"In no way am I telling you to disobey your parents, but I too, think the music club needs their old president back. It would save me a lot of trouble, not having to deal with the music club's drama."Atobe said. "On a more serious note, being able to manage a club and ensure it's smooth running is proof that you're not useless. I hate to admit this, you are musically talented but you are also gifted in management along with possessing other characteristics to lead a group of people."

"That's not true." Hyo replied. "There were a lot of struggles."

"Yes, I am aware you had your struggles at the beginning, the archive of student council meeting minutes told me a lot. You overcame them though, with the determination to give it your best, so don't depreciate yourself."

Hyo stopped in her tracks and Atobe, noticing the absence of footsteps behind him also stopped walking and turned back to look at Hyo.

"Who _are_ you?" Hyo asked, her eyes narrowing. The Atobe in front of her today was so different.

Atobe gave something short of a snort.

"Don't get me wrong, Morita. I still maintain that you're an accident prone girl whose lack of grace is contagious to anyone within ten meters of you with an academic record that embarrasses the Hyoutei name."Atobe rattled and paused. Then he added, the tone of his voice became softer, "Despite that, I don't dislike you."

By now, Hyo was more than just confused. She had no idea if Atobe was speaking Japanese, English, German, Greek, or whatever other language he was fluent in. All she knew was that she was experiencing a feeling that radiated throughout her body not unlike the warmth that travels from head to toe after a nice cup of green tea on a cold winter's day. The feeling was similar, but yet _better_, this was a feeling she had never felt before.

After the issue of the music club's disharmony had been brought to Atobe's attention in a recent council meeting which lead him to skim read all the information possibly available on the club in the archives. Skim read was something he found himself unable to do whenever the name Morita Hyo came up and whenever he read her name, Yuushi's comments about needing to be honest with himself (which he had thought was complete rubbish) would continually nag at his brain.

Atobe registered Hyo's dazed expression and instead of his usual smirk, he smiled. He had expected this sort of reaction from Hyo and this reason was exactly why this was as obvious as he was willing to make his feelings – at least for now.

"Don't just stand there. In case you've forgotten, we have to get out of this forest to my villa and the sun is disappearing more by the second." Atobe said, the tone of his voice returning to normal.

* * *

**I hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing. I feel kind of obliged to hurry things up because this is supposed to be a romance fic but it's been fourteen chapters and there's been no romance yet! Ahh! Unless, of course, you lovely readers don't mind haha.**

**A huge thank you to all the lovely reviewers who left reviews and all those that have favourited and put this story on alert (but I wish you guys would review too!). Each notification I get really motivate me to continue with my fic (:**

******Please read and review. Leave comments and criticisms, anything is welcome!**

**Yuu.**


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